UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


"*, 

f «  n 


THE  MEMOIRS 

OF 

CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 


THE  MEMOIRS 

*f 


OF 


CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 


BY 

AUGUSTUS   C. 

Author  of  "  Life  of  Paul  Jones,"  "  History  of  An  drew  Jackson,' 
"  Life  of  Sir  William  Johnson,"  Etc. 


PHILADELPHIA  AND  LONDON 

J.     B.     LIPPINCOTT     COMPANY 
1906 


COPYRIGHT,  1906 
BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


Printed  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia 


I 

(3 

a. 


V 

i  to 


PREFACE 

r 

IT  is  not  often  that  the  memoirs  of  a  man 
cover  the  history  of  threescore  years  of  active 
manhood.    Still  more  rare  is  it  that  the  period 
covered  happens  to  be  the  most  fruitful  of 
?  progress  known  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  And 
0  yet  more  remarkable,  even  to  the  point  of  the 
E  unique,  is  it  that  such  a  career,  in  such  an 
epoch,  should  be  inextricably  interwoven  with 
the  history  of  one  of  the  fairest  arts  and  one  of 
the  most  fascinating  sciences, — Naval  Archi- 
tecture and  Ship-building. 

All  this  is  true  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir, 
Charles  Henry  Cramp. 

Such   phrases   as    "prominently  identified 
with"  or  "an  acknowledged  leader  in"  his 
sphere  of  creative  activity  do  not  adequately 
express  Charles  H.  Cramp 's  personal  and  pro- 
fessional  relation,   or  rather   his   individual 
\  identification,  with  the  maritime  and  naval  his- 
T  tory  of  his  country.    Those  phrases  applied  to 
tf    his  status  and  his  rank  would  be  commonplace. 


iii 


PREFACE 

His  impress  is  far  deeper  than  that,  and  the 
association  of  his  name  and  his  personality 
with  the  art  and  its  triumphs  have  become  a 
symbol. 

The  generation  of  naval  architects  and  ship- 
builders among  whom  he  began  his  life-work 
sixty  years  ago  have  long  since  passed  away. 
Of  them  all  he  stands  alone,  the  only  surviving 
link  that  binds  the  romantic  memories  of  wood 
and  canvas  to  the  grim  realities  of  steel  and 
steam.  Even  the  generation  that  knew  him  in 
the  middle  of  his  long  and  fruitful  career  is 
gone.  He  is  the  only  man  who  has  alike  de- 
signed and  built  ships  for  the  navy  of  the  Civil 
War  and  for  that  of  to-day, — alike  for  the  navy 
that  fought  at  Charleston  and  Fort  Fisher  and 
for  the  navy  that  won  Santiago  and  Manila 
Bay, — twoscore  years  asunder !  In  all  the  his- 
tory of  our  country  there  has  never  been  an- 
other professional  career  like  his.  No  other 
man  ever  made  such  an  impress  as  he  upon  the 
life,  welfare,  and  progress  of  the  nation.  No 
other  man,  without  ever  holding  a  public  office, 
has  so  indelibly  left  his  mark  upon  our  greatest 
and  most  vital  public  interests  as  he  has  done. 

He  has  passed  from  the  sphere  of  member- 

iv 


PREFACE 

ship  in  his  profession  and  has  become  its  ex- 
ponent. His  name  is  a  synonym  for  the  art  in 
which  he  has  so  long  been  master,  and  the  men- 
tion of  his  personality  instantly  suggests  the 
science  whose  triumphs  he  has  so  often  and  so 
well  won. 

This  status  and  this  rank  are  by  no  means 
limited  to  our  own  country.  Mr.  Cramp  is  as 
familiar  in  London  as  in  Philadelphia;  as 
well  known  in  Tokio  and  St.  Petersburg  as 
in  New  York  or  Washington. 

Undoubtedly,  the  first  impression  one  will 
derive  from  the  study  of  Mr.  Cramp's  career 
and  character  as  mirrored  in  his  acts  and  his 
writings  is  his  singleness  of  purpose,  fixity  of 
resolve,  and  directness  of  method.  These  are, 
in  fact,  his  distinctive  traits,  and  to  them, 
throughout  his  long  and  arduous  life,  all  others 
have  been  rigorously  subordinated.  If  he  ap- 
pears to  be  exacting  of  others,  he  is  yet  more  so 
with  himself.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  in 
a  life  so  long,  in  an  experience  covering  lit- 
erally the  scope  of  the  civilized  world,  and  in 
a  range  of  endeavor  so  wide  and  diversified,  all 
could  be  plain  sailing.  On  the  other  hand,  few 
men  have  encountered  more  or  greater  obsta- 


PREFACE 

cles.  No  man  ever  faced  them  more  cheerfully 
or  combated  them  with  more  sanguine  pluck. 
If  he  did  not  always  triumph  over  them,  it  was 
because  they  were  insurmountable,  or  because 
those  upon  whom  he  relied  for  a  proper  share 
in  the  sum-total  of  effort  failed  him.  He  him- 
self never  left  undone  anything  that  a  clear 
head  could  devise  or  a  resolute  will  strive  for. 
But  with  all  his  singleness  of  purpose,  fixity 
of  resolve,  and  directness  of  method  in  pro- 
fessional pursuits,  Charles  H.  Cramp,  as  a 
member  of  society  at  large,  is  a  man  of  the 
broadest  vision  and  most  comprehensive  cul- 
ture. Intent  as  he  may  be  upon  his  work,  he 
' l  never  takes  the  shop  home  with  him, ' '  as  the 
saying  is.  He  has  always  possessed  the  happy 
faculty  of  laying  down  his  burdens  at  the  close 
of  each  working-day  to  find  mental  recreation 
in  social  occasions,  in  general  literature,  art, 
and  the  higher  order  of  social  amusements.  A 
clever  writer  in  a  magazine  sketch  of  him  many 
years  ago  said,  "Charles  H.  Cramp  knows 
more  about  more  things  than  any  other  man  of 
his  time!"  Unlike  most  epigrams,  this  is 
true,  and  in  terse  fashion  it  conveys  a  por- 
trayal of  his  intellectual  make-up.  Mastery  of 

vi 


PREFACE 

the  literature  of  his  own  profession,  rich  and 
varied  as  it  is,  forms  but  a  small  part  of  Mr. 
Cramp's  mental  equipment.  To  all  these  at- 
tainments add  the  lessons  and  observations  of 
wide  travel  and  constant  association  with  lead- 
ing minds  and  controlling  personalities  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  the  result  is  a  perfectly 
equipped,  all-round  man  of  affairs. 

During  his  whole  active  career  Mr.  Cramp 
has  held  positions  of  command.  At  the  age  of 
nineteen  he  began  to  direct  operations  and  as- 
sume responsibilities ;  and  such  status  he  has 
maintained  for  threescore  years,  with  con- 
stantly increasing  volume  of  operations  and 
incessantly  growing  weight  of  responsibility. 
But  through  all  he  has  kept  the  even  tenor  of 
his  way,  neither  elated  by  triumphs  nor  de- 
pressed by  reverses,  and  guided  always  by  an 
inflexible  integrity  and  a  scrupulous  honesty 
that  are  proverbial. 


vii 


CONTENTS 

r 

CHAPTER    I 

PAGE 

Early  Shipbuilding  in  Philadelphia  and  Colonies — Paul 
Jones — Joshua  Humphreys — Alliance — Truxtun — Em- 
bargo— Decade  following  War  of  1815 — Rebecca  Sims — 
Inauguration  of  Packet  Lines — Thomas  P.  Cope — Decay 
of  Eastern  Trade  in  Philadelphia — Auction  Sales  of  Car- 
goes   11 

CHAPTER    II 

Birth — Relatives — High  School — Magnetic  Observatory — 
Note  on  Davidson — Surf-boats  for  Mexican  War — First 
Propeller  Tug  Sampson — Shipbuilders  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia — Clipper  Ships,  1850— Zenith  of  American 
Carrying  Trade — Crimean  War — Cunard  Line— Liberta- 
dor — Armored  Ships — Board  Appointed  to  Take  Charge 
of  Appropriation  to  Build  Them — Account  of  New  Iron- 
sides— The  Monitor — Speech  of  Bishop  Simpson — Sub- 
Department  of  Navy — Light-draught  Monitors — Sinking 
of  the  First — Collapse  of  Sub-Department — Rebuilding 
of  Yazoo,  Tunxis  and  Others — Miantonomah — Origin  of 
Fast  Cruisers — Evolution  of  Modern  Marine  Engineer- 
ing in  this  Country 39 

CHAPTER    III 

Foreign  Commerce  in  1865 — The  Clyde  and  George  W. 
Clyde,  and  Introduction  of  Compound  Engines — Com- 
merce of  1870— Merchant  Marine — Lynch  Committee — 
Mr.  Cramp  and  Committee— Lynch  Bill — American 
Steamship  Company — Visit  to  British  Shipyards — John 
Elder — British  Methods — Interchange  of  Methods — Mer- 
chant Marine,  Continued — Dingley  Bill — Defects — Act 
of  1891,  Providing  Registry  for  Foreign  Ships — St.  Louis 
and  St.  Paul — Extract  from  Forum — Remarks  on  Arti- 
cle— Committee  of  Shipbuilders  and  Owners — New 
Bill  Introduced  by  Frye  and  Dingley — North  Atlantic 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    III 

(CONTINUED) 

PAGE 

Traffic  Association — New  Shipyards — Tactics  of  North 
Atlantic  Traffic  Association — Our  Navigation  Laws, 
North  American  Review — Mr.  Whitney — Unfriendly  Leg- 
islation— Mr.  Whitney's  Letter — Effects  of  Letter — Mr. 
Cramp's  Letter  to  Committee  of  Merchant  Marine — 
International  Mercantile  Marine 97 

CHAPTER    IV 

Condition  of  Navy  after  Civil  War — Admiral  Case's  Fleet — 
Virginius  Scare — Huron,  Alert  and  Ranger — Secretary 
Hunt — First  Advisory  Board— Secretary  Chandler — 
Puritan  Class— Finished— Steel— Hon.  J.  B.  McCreary 
and  Appropriation  Bill  for  New  Navy — Members  of  Sec- 
ond Naval  Advisory  Board — Standard  for  Steel  for  New 
Ships  Chicago,  Boston,  Atlanta  and  Dolphin — Secretary 
Whitney — Beginning  of  New  Navy,  by  Charles  H. 
Cramp — Baltimore,  Charleston  and  Yorktown — Pur- 
chase of  Drawings  by  Navy  Department — Commodore 
Walker — Premium  System — Mr.  Whitney'sViews — Pre- 
miums Paid — Attack  on  System— Secretary  Tracy — War 
College  Paper — Classifying  Bids 154 

CHAPTER    V 

Armstrongs — Russian  Warship  Construction — Arrival  of 
Cimbria  at  Bar  Harbor — Visit  of  Wharton  Barker  to 
Shipyard — Visit  of  Captain  Semetschkin  and  Commis- 
sion to  the  Yard — Purchase  of  Ships — Newspaper  Ac- 
counts—Captain Gore- Jones — Mr.  Cramp's  Account  of 
Operations — Europe,  Asia,  Africa  and  Zabiaca— Popoff 
and  Livadia — Visit  to  Grand  Duke  Constantine — Anni- 
versary Banquet  in  St.  Petersburg  of  Survivors  of  Cim- 
bria Expedition — Object  of  Visit  to  Russia — Mr.  Dunn 
and  Japan — Contract  for  Kasagi — Jubilee  Session  of 
Naval  Architects  in  London — Visit  to  Russia — Corre- 
spondence with  Russian  Officials — Visit  to  Armstrongs' — 
Japanese  Warship  Construction — Coming  Sea  Power — 
Correspondence  with  Russian  Officials — Invited  to  Rus- 
sia— Asked  to  Bid  for  Warships — Our  Ministers  Abroad — 
Construction  of  Retvizan  and  Variag— Maine 205 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

r 


PAGE 

CHARLES  H.  CRAMP Frontispiece 

CLIPPERSHIP  MORNING  LIGHT 12 

CLIPPERSHIP  MANITOU 24 

CRUISER  YORKTOWN 36 

MONITOR  TEHROR 48 

CRUISERS  BALTIMORE  AND  PHILADELPHIA 60 

CRUISER  NEWARK 72 

CRUISERS  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  COLORADO 84 

CRUISER  COLUMBIA 96 

ARMORED  CRUISER  BROOKLYN 108 

ARMORED  CRUISER  NEW  YORK 120 

BATTLESHIP  NEW  IRONSIDES 132 

BATTLESHIP  IOWA 144 

BATTLESHIP  ALABAMA 156 

BATTLESHIP  MAINE 158 

BATTLESHIP  RETVIZAN  IN  COMMISSION 180 

BATTLESHIP  RETVIZAN  DOCKING 192 

CRUISER  VARIAG 204 

AMERICAN  LINER  ST.  PAUL 216 

MEDI-J-IEH  LAUNCHING 228 

MEDI-J-IEH  IN  COMMISSION 240 

xi 


MEMOIRS 

OF 

CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

8 
CHAPTER  I 

Early  Ship-building  in  Philadelphia  and  Colonies — Paul 
Jones — Joshua  Humphreys — "  Alliance" — Truxtun — 
Embargo — Decade  following  War  of  1815 — "  Rebecca 
Sims" — Inauguration  of  Packet  Lines — Thomas  P. 
Cope — Decay  of  Eastern  Trade  in  Philadelphia — 
Auction  Sales  of  Cargoes. 

THE  historical  value  of  the  character  and 
career  of  individuals  must  be  rated  by  their 
share  in  and  impress  upon  the  events  of  their 
time.  This  is  equally  true  of  success  and  fail- 
ure. For  example,  the  most  famous  man  of 
modern  time  terminated  his  career  in  the  most 
colossal  failure  known  to  history, — Napoleon 
Bonaparte  Yet,  if  we  judge  by  the  interest 
the  civilized  world  takes  in  every  shred  of  his 
history  and  by  the  perennial  halo  that  envelops 
his  name,  people  do  not  think  about  either  his 
triumphs  or  his  disasters,  but  fix  their  atten- 

11 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

tion  singly  upon  the  impress  he  made  upon 
civilization. 

On  the  other  hand,  George  -Washington 
ended  his  career  in  success  and  glory.  But 
few,  except  students  and  pedants,  know  much 
about  Washington  beyond  that  he  was  the 
founder  of  a  new  nation  and  the  Father  of  a 
new  country  which  a  century  after  his  death 
has  become  the  most  formidable  on  earth. 

Thus,  in  either  case,  whether  of  success  or  of 
failure,  both  gigantic,  mankind  rates  the  im- 
portance of  each  by  the  impress  he  made  upon 
the  events  of  his  time  and  by  its  enduring 
character. 

Viewed  broadly,  the  Europe  of  to-day  as 
compared  with  the  Europe  of  1775  is  as  com- 
pletely the  creation  of  the  popular  forces  in- 
carnated in  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  as  the 
American  Republic  of  to-day  as  compared  with 
the  revolted  Colonies  of  1775  is  the  creation  of 
the  popular  forces  whose  exponent  George 
Washington  was.  From  this  point  of  view,  the 
fact  that  one  failed  while  the  other  succeeded 
in  the  personal  sense  cuts  no  figure  whatever. 

These  observations,  while  they  have  none 
other  than  a  general  relation  to  our  immediate 
subject,  are  pertinent  to  the  main  thread  of  our 
theme.  The  real  test  of  greatness  in  an  indi- 
vidual, and  therefore  of  the  historical  value  of 

12 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

his  character  and  career,  being  the  impress  he 
makes  upon  the  events  of  his  time,  it  follows 
that,  unless  the  mention  of  a  man's  name  in- 
stantly suggests  some  great  thing  or  things 
that  he  has  done,  or  in  a  masterful  way  has 
helped  to  do,  that  man  was  not  great ;  he  made 
no  impress  upon  his  times,  and  his  biography 
can  possess  no  historic  value.  But  whenever 
the  name  of  a  man  stands  as  the  exponent  of 
some  great  thing  done  or  as  the  symbol  of 
notable  achievement,  then  the  character  and 
career  of  that  man  belong  to  history,  and  the 
obligation  devolves  upon  literature  to  suitably 
perpetuate  his  memory. 

This,  the  prime  test  and  condition  of  endur- 
ing fame,  has  been  fulfilled  by  the  subject  of 
this  memoir,  Charles  Henry  Cramp.  Not  alone 
in  his  own  country,  but  in  Europe  and  Asia, — 
from  St.  Petersburg  to  Tokio, — the  mention 
of  his  name  instantly  suggests  triumphs  in  the 
science  of  naval  architecture  and  marine  en- 
gineering and  successes  in  the  art  of  building 
ships.  However,  before  proceeding  to  a  his- 
tory of  the  career  and  life-work  of  Mr.  Cramp 
himself,  it  seems  proper  to  survey  the  histori- 
cal antecedents  of  his  science  and  his  art  in 
his  own  field  of  action. 

The  art  of  naval  architecture  and  the  indus- 
try of  ship-building  were  almost  coeval  with 

13 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  primitive  establishment  of  the  English- 
speaking  race  on  the  American  continent,  and 
this  was  more  particularly  true  of  Philadel- 
phia than  of  any  other  place.  In  the  earliest 
grants  of  land  to  settlers,  William  Penn  in- 
variably included  a  clause  requiring  them, 
when  clearing  the  land  granted,  to  "spare  all 
smooth  and  large  oak-trees  suitable  for  ship- 
timber.  ' ' 

In  1685,  three  years  after  Penn  arrived  in 
the  Colony,  it  was  reported  to  the  Lords  of 
Trade  in  London  that  "six  ships  capable  of 
sea-voyage  and  many  boats  have  been  built  at 
Philadelphia. ' '  From  this  early  beginning  the 
industry  grew  rapidly,  until  in  1700  four  yards 
were  engaged  in  building  sea-going  ships  alone, 
besides  several  smaller  concerns  which  built 
fishing-boats  and  river-craft.  Two  rope- 
walks,  two  or  three  block-makers'  shops,  and 
several  other  special  manufactories  of  ship- 
building material,  had  been  put  in  operation. 
At  first  the  spar-iron  work  needed  was  brought 
from  England,  but  by  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  all  the  ship-smithing  re- 
quired for  Philadelphia-built  ships  was  done 
on  the  spot. 

The  first  four  yards  were  located  at  different 
points  along  the  beach,  between  the  foot  of 
Market  Street  and  the  foot  of  Vine  Street,  and 

14 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

there  they  remained  until  about  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  By  that  time  the  value 
of  that  part  of  the  river  front  for  commercial 
wharf  purposes  had  increased  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  the  ship-building  industry  could  not 
afford  to  hold  it.  In  the  meantime  new  yards 
had  been  established  down  as  far  as  South 
Street,  others  as  far  north  as  the  present  foot 
of  Fairmount  Avenue.  Obedient  to  this  law  of 
trade  the  four  older  yards  moved  their  plants 
either  northward  or  southward,  as  convenience 
or  economy  might  dictate.  But  after  1744  no 
ships  were  built  between  Market  and  Vine 
Streets.  The  last  of  these  original  shipyards 
of  Penn's  time  to  succumb  was  the  largest  and 
most  important  one  in  Philadelphia.  It  was 
owned  and  managed  by  Mr.  West,  who  was  at 
that  time  the  leading  ship-builder  in  the  Col- 
onies; and  the  ground  his  shipyard  occupied 
had  been  deeded  to  him  by  William  Penn  in 
part  payment  for  a  ship  he  had  built  for  Penn 
several  years  before.  He  removed  to  the  pres- 
ent foot  of  Green  Street. 

In  1750-51  two  ships  were  built  in  West's 
new  yard,  which  exceeded  in  size  any  merchant 
vessels  previously  constructed  in  America. 
One  of  them  was  of  three  hundred  and  twenty 
and  the  other  of  four  hundred  tons  burthen. 
They  were  sent  to  England  with  cargoes  of 

15 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

colonial  produce,  and  on  arrival  at  London 
were  both  bought  by  the  East  India  Company 
and  placed  in  the  regular  East  India  and  China 
fleet.  They  were  as  large  as  any  merchant  ves- 
sels built  in  England  up  to  that  time,  and  of 
superior  model  and  construction.  One  of 
them — the  larger  of  the  two — remained  on  the 
list  of  the  East  India  Company  more  than 
thirty  years ;  and  in  1751  had  for  one  of  her 
passengers  to  India,  Warren  Hastings,  who 
was  going  out  to  Madras  as  a  young  clerk  in 
the  Civil  Service,  to  become  the  first  Governor- 
General  of  British  India,  and  founder  of  the 
British  Empire  in  Asia. 

During  this  period,  the  third  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  a  new  scheme  of  ship- 
building commended  itself  to  the  enterprise 
and  ingenuity  of  Philadelphia  shipwrights. 
This  was  the  construction  of  what  they  called 
"  raft-ships." 

The  local  supply  of  ship-timber  in  the  for- 
ests of  England,  particularly  of  frames,  knees, 
keels,  and  the  larger  spars,  had  begun  to  de- 
cline to  the  danger-point  by  1750.  The  size  of 
ships,  both  for  commerce  and  for  war,  was 
constantly  increasing.  This  increase  inces- 
santly involved  the  use  of  longer  and  heavier 
timbers  for  frames,  larger  knees  and  futtocks, 
and  thicker  planking.  Meantime  the  forests  of 

16 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

England  became  smaller  and  smaller.  The 
great  old  trees  had  been  cut  down  and  sawed  or 
hewn  up,  and  the  younger  stems  had  not  found 
time  to  grow  in  their  stead. 

Indeed,  before  1750,  England  had  begun  to 
import  ship-timber  from  the  Baltic ;  but  it  was 
mostly  deal  boards  used  for  cabin-work,  ceil- 
ings, sheathings,  etc.  Now  she  began  to  look 
to  her  American  Colonies  for  the  heavier  ma- 
terials. It  was  difficult  to  load  and  stow  this 
kind  of  timber  through  the  hatchways  of  the 
ships  then  available.  The  ingenuity  of  Phila- 
delphia shipwrights  met  this  obstacle  by  build- 
ing the  timbers  themselves  into  the  form  of 
ships,  and  they  were  then  navigated  across  the 
Atlantic  to  be  broken  up  on  arrival  in  British 
ports.  These  "raft-ships"  were  built  with 
bluff  bows  and  square  sterns,  their  sides  being 
several  feet  thick.  To  make  them  water-tight, 
they  were  sheathed  with  two  thicknesses  of 
boards  which  "broke  joints,"  and  were  caulked. 
The  largest  of  these,  called  the  "Baron  Een- 
frew,"  measured  the  equivalent  of  five  thou- 
sand tons  in  a  regular  merchant  ship.  She 
got  safely  across  the  ocean,  but  went  ashore  on 
Portland  Bill  in  a  fog  and  broke  up.  Most  of 
her  timber,  however,  was  picked  up  by  Eng- 
lish and  French  vessels  which  cruised  for 
weeks  in  search  of  it.  Among  the  mast-timber 
2  17 

7 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

she  carried  was  one  white  pine  tree  ninety-one 
feet  long  by  four  feet  eight  inches  diameter  at 
the  butt  inside  the  bark.  This  tree  was  used 
for  the  mainmast  of  the  "Royal  George,"  a 
three-decker  then  building  at  Chatham  (1774). 
It  was  doubtless  still  in  the  ill-fated  ship  when 
she  heeled  over  and  went  down  at  Portsmouth 
in  1782.  The  "Baron  Renfrew"  was  the  last 
of  the  "raft-ships."  The  oncoming  Revolu- 
tion stopped  all  kinds  of  commerce  for  eight 
years,  and  though  after  the  peace  ship-timber 
was  again  exported  to  England,  it  went  as  hold 
or  deck  cargo  in  regular  vessels. 

Summing  up  the  colonial  period,  it  may  be 
said  that,  while  the  records  were  imperfectly 
kept  and  some  lost,  enough  is  extant  to  show 
that  between  1684  and  1744  one  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  square-rigged  ships  and  over 
seven  hundred  brigs  and  schooners,  besides  im- 
mense numbers  of  boats,  river-sloops,  fishing- 
yawls,  etc.,  were  built  at  Philadelphia.  Her 
only  rival  in  the  Colonies  during  that  period 
was  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  but  Phila- 
delphia held  the  ascendency  over  all  in  the  size 
and  total  tonnage  of  her  ships. 

That  the  Colonies  should  have  developed  the 
ship-building  industry  from  their  earliest  ex- 
istence was  natural  and  necessary.  If  you 
take  a  modern  map  of  the  United  States  and 

18 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

draw  from  Maine  to  Georgia  a  heavy  black  line 
averaging  one  hundred  miles  back  from  the 
general  trend  of  the  sea-coast,  you  will  have  in 
close  approximation  the  geography  of  colonial 
settlement  at  its  maximum.  In  this  belt,  this 
1  'narrow  fringe  of  civilization,"  were  concen- 
trated for  more  than  a  century  all  the  energies 
of  English-speaking  pioneers,  rapidly  increas- 
ing in  numbers  and  incessantly  augmenting  the 
products  of  enterprise  and  industry  which, 
from  surplus  over  home  consumption,  had  to 
seek  markets  over  sea. 

In  those  early  days  the  population  kept 
within  easy  reach  of  the  coast  or  of  the  arms 
of  the  sea  and  estuaries  which  abound  from 
the  Savannah  on  the  south  to  the  Penobscot  on 
the  north.  The  back  country,  forming  the  east- 
ern or  Atlantic  slope  of  the  Appalachian  chain, 
was  little  more  than  a  hunting  and  trapping 
ground  or  a  field  for  primitive  trade  and  bar- 
ter with  the  Indians.  As  for  the  vast  "  hinter- 
land," west  of  the  Alleghenies,  it  was,  up  to 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the 
final  struggle  between  England  and  France  for 
supremacy  on  this  continent  began,  an  un- 
broken wilderness,  inhabited  only  by  hostile 
savages,  and  unknown  to  any  white  men  ex- 
cept the  Jesuit  priests  and  the  cunning  traders 
of  French  Canada. 

19 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

For  all  these  reasons,  the  gaze  of  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking colonists  from  the  earliest  settle- 
ments to  the  beginning  of  the  conquest  of  Can- 
ada was  always  bent  toward  the  sea,  and  all 
their  enterprise  and  energy  were  directed  to 
the  commerce  of  the  ocean.  Under  such  condi- 
tions, the  development  of  skill  in  ship-building 
was  inevitable;  and  with  that  necessity  was 
also  bred  a  scientific  alertness  in  marine  archi- 
tecture itself  which,  as  soon  as  political  inde- 
pendence freed  its  scope,  became  supreme 
throughout  the  civilized  world. 

The  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  of  course,  for 
the  time  being,  put  an  end  to  merchant  ship- 
building in  all  American  ports.  But  in  Phila- 
delphia the  paralysis  was  only  temporary,  and 
the  energies  heretofore  directed  toward  con- 
struction of  ships  for  the  uses  of  peace  were 
soon  turned  to  the  conversion  of  available  mer- 
chantmen into  vessels  of  war  or  privateers,  and 
the  building  of  new  frigates  ordered  by  Con- 
gress. The  first  American  squadron,  that  of 
the  ill-starred  Commodore  Esek  Hopkins,  was 
composed  entirely  of  merchant  vessels  taken 
up  in  the  harbor  and  converted  into  men-of- 
war  in  the  shipyards  of  Philadelphia  during 
the  autumn  of  1775. 

It  was  in  the  selection  and  conversion  of 
these  four  merchantmen  into  cruisers  that  Paul 

20 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

Jones,  founder  of  the  American  navy,  first 
gave  to  the  United  States  his  energies  and  his 
talents.  Thus  Philadelphia  was  the  birthplace 
of  a  new  sea-power,  and  her  shipyards  have 
ever  since  been  the  foremost  contributors  to  its 
growth,  until  even  now,  though  only  a  century 
and  a  quarter  old,  it  has  achieved  imperial 
rank. 

In  November,  1775,  Congress  authorized  the 
construction  of  six  32-gun  frigates  and  seven 
other  war  vessels  of  less  dimensions.  Four  of 
the  frigates  were  allotted  to  Philadelphia  ship- 
yards. They  were  the  " Washington,"  the 
"Randolph,"  the  "Delaware,"  and  the  "Ef- 
fingham."  The  first  two  were  frigate-built 
from  their  keels,  but  the  "Delaware"  and 
"Emngham,"  to  save  time,  were  built  upon 
frames  already  on  the  stocks  for  merchant 
ships  when  the  war  began.  On  this  account 
they  were  not  quite  as  large  as  the  regular 
frigates  and  rated  twenty-eight  instead  of 
thirty-two  guns. 

From  1775  till  the  peace  of  1783,  Philadel- 
phia yards  built  a  great  number  of  privateers 
and  converted  a  few  ships  for  the  "State 
Navy,"  as  it  was  called,  that  is  to  say,  ships 
provided  by  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylva- 
nia and  assigned  to  the  Continental  service. 
One  of  these,  a  converted  bark  of  two  hundred 

21 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

tons  and  mounting  sixteen  6-pounders,  has 
passed  into  fame  as  the  "Hyder  Ali."  Under 
Lieutenant  Joshua  Barney  she  took  the  "  Gen- 
eral Monk,"  a  regular  sloop-of-war,  mounting 
fourteen  9-pounders  and  four  6-pounders.  The 
"Hyder  Ali"  was  a  small  French  bark  which 
arrived  at  Philadelphia  with  military  supplies 
early  in  February,  1782.  She  was  at  once 
bought  by  the  State  and  placed  in  Humphrey's 
yard  for  conversion  into  a  cruiser.  Within  six 
weeks  she  was  put  in  commission,  and  she  took 
the  " General  Monk,"  April  8,  about  two 
months  after  her  arrival  in  port  as  a  merchant 
vessel.  This  was  the  last  capture  of  an  Eng- 
lish man-of-war  in  the  Revolution. 

The  peace  of  1783  found  Philadelphia  pos- 
sessing only  thirteen  merchant  vessels,  all  built 
before  the  war  and  nearly  all  of  which  had 
served  as  privateers  during  the  conflict.  No 
new  merchant  keel  had  been  laid  in  a  Philadel- 
phia yard  between  1775  and  1782 ;  but  the  in- 
dustry revived  with  wonderful  energy.  From 
1782  to  1787,  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  vessels 
were  built,  of  which  fifty-six  were  square-rigged 
ships  averaging  over  three  hundred  tons. 
From  this  period  on  the  progress  was  very 
great.  The  outbreak  of  the  wars  of  the  French 
Eevolution  in  1793  at  once  threw  a  vast  carry- 
ing trade  into  American  bottoms,  the  United 

22 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

States  being  for  a  long  time  the  only  neutral 
maritime  nation.  By  the  year  1801,  when  the 
treaty,  or  truce,  of  Amiens  was  signed,  nearly 
three  hundred  sea-going  ships  were  owned  in 
Philadelphia,  all  home-built,  and  fourteen  ship- 
yards were  in  operation, — eight  in  the  north- 
ern or  Kensington  and  six  in  the  southern 
or  Southwark  district.  These  were  all  first- 
class  shipyards,  building  the  largest  full- 
rigged  ships  of  that  epoch.  In  that  period  and 
for  a  long  time  afterward  the  leading  Philadel- 
phia shipyard  was  that  of  Joshua  Humphreys, 
in  Southwark,  and  its  proprietor  and  manager 
was  himself  the  foremost  naval  architect  of 
his  time.  When  Congress,  in  1794,  authorized 
the  construction  of  six  frigates,  and  thereby 
laid  the  foundation  of  what  we  call  the  modern 
or  "  regular"  navy,  as  distinguished  from  the 
old  Continental  navy  of  the  Revolution,  promi- 
nent ship-builders  were  asked  to  submit  plans, 
the  government  then  having  no  naval  construc- 
tors. The  plans  of  Mr.  Humphreys  were 
adopted  for  all  six  frigates.  Three  of  them 
embodied  a  distinct  advance  in  size  and  weight 
of  armament  over  vessels  of  similar  rate  in 
other  navies,  and  were  classed  as  44-gun  frig- 
ates. The  other  three  were  designed  as  38-gun 
frigates,  and  were  an  improvement  upon  the  36- 
gun  ships  of  European  navies.  These  six  ships 

23 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

were  built  by  contract, — one  of  the  forty-fours 
and  one  of  the  thirty-eights  at  Philadelphia; 
one  forty-four  at  Boston;  one  at  New  York; 
one  thirty-eight  at  Baltimore,  and  one  at 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  In  addition  to 
these,  a  32-gun  frigate,  the  "Essex,"  was  built 
at  Salisbury  Point,  Massachusetts,  by  private 
subscription,  and  given  to  the  government. 

Mr.  Humphreys  had  the  contracts  for  the 
Philadelphia-built  frigates,  and  on  May  10, 
1797,  he  launched  the  44-gun  frigate  "  United 
States,"  which  was  the  first  ship  of  the  reg- 
ular navy  to  be  water-borne.  Thus  to  Phila- 
delphia belongs  the  credit  of  having  fitted  out 
the  first  squadron  of  the  Continental  navy  in 
1775,  and  of  launching  the  first  ship  of  the 
regular  navy  in  1797.  In  1799,  Mr.  Humphreys 
completed  a  third  frigate,  named  the  "Phila- 
delphia." This  ship  is  described  in  some  his- 
tories as  a  "forty-four,"  and  in  others  as  a 
"thirty-eight."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  she  was 
neither;  but  properly  rated,  under  the  rules 
then  in  vogue,  as  a  40-gun  frigate.  This  dif- 
ference was  due  to  the  fact  that  she  carried 
thirty  long  18-pounders  on  her  gundeck  as 
against  twenty-eight  18-pounders  in  the  "Con- 
stellation" class,  or  as  against  thirty  long  24- 
pounders  in  the  "Constitution"  or  44-gun 
class.  The  "Philadelphia"  was  beyond  ques- 

24 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

tion  the  most  perfect  frigate  of  her  day.  She 
was  the  same  length  as  the  "  Constitution, "  but 
of  less  beam,  slightly  less  draught,  and  on  finer 
lines.  In  her  design,  Mr.  Humphreys  had  sac- 
rificed to  speed  some  of  the  battery  power  of 
the  forty-fours,  and  therefore  had  to  substitute 
18-pounders  for  24-pounders  on  the  gundeck. 
She  was  the  fastest  sailing  war-ship  in  the 
world,  beating  the  " Constitution"  by  nearly 
two  knots  an  hour.  In  her  first,  and  unfortu- 
nately her  last,  voyage,  from  this  country  to 
Tripoli,  she  logged  on  one  occasion  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  knots  in  twenty-four 
hours,  and  on  another  three  hundred  and 
thirty-seven,  the  latter  run  being  an  average 
slightly  exceeding  fourteen  knots.  She  was 
lost  in  Tripoli  harbor  in  1803.  It  is  not  too 
much  or  too  little  to  say  of  either  that  Joshua 
Humphreys  held  a  professional  rank  similar  to 
that  of  Charles  H.  Cramp,  that  of  the  foremost 
naval  architect  of  his  era;  and  with  excep- 
tions, not  worth  mention,  they  are  the  only 
American  naval  architects  whose  designs  for 
sea-going  war-ships  have  been  adopted  by  the 
navy. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  in  this  connection, 
that  when  the  plans  of  Mr.  Humphreys  were 
adopted  in  1794^95,  the  government  not  only 
had  no  naval  constructors  of  its  own,  but  in 

25 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

fact  no  Navy  Department,  except  a  Bureau  in 
the  War  Department,  so  that  Mr.  Humphreys 
could  have  no  competitors  but  other  private 
ship-builders.  Mr.  Cramp's  designs,  however, 
have  been  adopted  under  the  scrutiny  of  a 
highly  competent  and  most  critical  corps  of 
regular  naval  constructors  and  marine  engin- 
eers. 

The  renewal  of  general  war  in  Europe  in 
1803  gave  a  fresh  impetus  to  the  neutral  carry- 
ing trade  of  the  United  States,  and  with  it  a 
corresponding  stimulus  to  ship-building  all 
along  the  coast,  though  most  pronounced  and 
on  a  larger  scale  at  Philadelphia  than  else- 
where. Between  the  above  date  and  1812  nine 
more  shipyards  were  established,  making 
twenty-three  all  told  in  operation  at  one  time. 
The  largest  merchant  vessel  up  to  that  time 
built  in  America  was  one  of  seven  hundred  and 
five  tons,  constructed  by  Samuel  Bowers  for 
the  East  India  trade,  and  her  dimensions  were 
not  exceeded  in  merchant  construction  until 
after  the  War  of  1812-15.  Her  contract  price 
was  $24,000 ;  at  the  rate  of  $34  per  ton  gross 
measurement.  At  that  time  vessels  of  similar 
class  cost  ten  guineas  ($50)  per  gross  ton  in 
British  shipyards. 

In  a  public  document  on  the  statistics  of 
ship-building,  we  find  a  statement  that  "in 

26 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

June,  1787,  the  ship  ' Alliance,'  owned  by  Rob- 
ert Morris  and  commanded  by  Captain  Thomas 
Read,  sailed  from  Philadelphia  for  Canton  and 
Batavia.  She  was  of  seven  hundred  tons  bur- 
then, and  the  largest  ship  built  for  commerce 
in  America  at  that  time." 

The  statement  that  the  "Alliance"  was 
"built  for  commerce"  is  an  error.  She  was 
the  famous  old  Revolutionary  frigate  which 
Paul  Jones  and  John  Barry  had  commanded 
at  different  times.  After  the  peace  of  1783  she 
was  sold  to  Mr.  Morris,  or  rather  turned  over 
to  him  in  part  payment  for  advance  he  had 
made  to  the  Continental  government.  She  was 
converted  into  a  merchant  ship  and  made  sev- 
eral China  voyages.  The  government  then 
bought  her  back  again  in  1790,  but  she  was 
not  refitted  as  a  war  vessel. 

During  the  general  period  under  considera- 
tion, that  is  to  say,  from  the  end  of  the  Rev- 
olution to  the  beginning  of  the  War  of  1812,  a 
new  and  highly  important  deep-sea  traffic  came 
into  existence,  of  which  Philadelphia  soon  ob- 
tained the  supreme  command.  This  was  the 
East  India  and  China  trade.  The  first  vessel 
to  clear  from  Philadelphia  for  China  direct 
was  the  new  ship  "Canton,"  built  by  Hum- 
phreys and  commanded  by  Captain,  after- 
ward Commodore,  Thomas  Truxtun. 

27 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

This  was  the  same  Thomas  Truxtun  who, 
during  the  Revolution,  had  seen  more  service 
in  privateers  than  any  other  sailor  then  afloat. 
He  served  either  as  mate  or  commander  in  the 
Philadelphia  privateers,  ''Andrew  Caldwell," 
11  Congress,"  " Independence, "  "Mars,"  and 
"St.  James,"  from  1775  to  1782.  His  ships 
made  altogether  sixty-five  captures  of  British 
merchantmen  and  transports.  While  com- 
manding the  ' l  St.  James, ' '  of  twenty  guns,  in 
1781,  he  beat  off  and  disabled  a  British  28- 
gun  frigate.  After  the  Revolution  he  com- 
manded Philadelphia  Indiamen  from  1785 
to  1798,  when  he  was  commissioned  one  of  the 
original  six  captains  in  the  regular  navy.  In 
the  short  war  with  France  in  1799  he  com- 
manded the  "Constellation,"  38-gun  frigate, 
and  took  the  French  frigate  "  1  'Insurgente, " 
of  forty  guns. 

The  "Canton"  sailed  from  Philadelphia  on 
December  30,  1785.  She  returned  in  May, 
1787,  having  made  the  round  voyage  to  Can- 
ton, Batavia,  and  home  in  a  little  over  sixteen 
months.  Her  venture  was  highly  profitable. 
From  this  beginning  the  far  eastern  trade  grew 
steadily  until,  in  1805,  Philadelphia  alone  owned 
twenty-seven  ships  plying  in  it,  ranging  from 
four  hundred  and  twenty  to  seven  hundred  and 
five  tons.  Between  1805  and  1812,  inclusive, 

28 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  number  of  Philadelphia  Indiamen  and 
China  ships  increased  to  forty-two,  notwith- 
standing the  injurious  effect  of  President  Jef- 
ferson's ill-advised  embargo.  In  fact,  that  meas- 
ure was  not  much  observed  by  ship-owners  in 
the  India  and  China  trade.  President  Jefferson 
did  not  attempt  to  enforce  his  embargo  by  either 
civil  or  military  power,  and  very  soon  after  he 
proclaimed  it,  the  under  standing  became  general 
among  merchant  ship-owners  that  if  they  chose 
to  take  the  risks  entailed  by  the  British  ''Or- 
ders in  Council"  and  Napoleon's  "Decrees  of 
Milan  and  Berlin,"  they  could  do  so  at  their 
peril,  with  no  recourse  for  protection  or  in- 
demnity in  case  of  misfortune.  Under  these 
conditions,  ship-owning  merchants,  in  other 
coast  cities  who  traded  with  European  or  West 
India  ports,  for  the  most  part  hesitated  to  take 
the  chances.  But  the  Philadelphia  merchant 
princes,  who  controlled  the  American  trade 
with  the  British  and  Dutch  East  Indies  and 
China,  were  not  so  easily  foiled.  They  loaded 
and  despatched  their  ships  during  the  em- 
bargo, a  period  of  nearly  two  years,  almost  as 
freely,  if  not  as  ostentatiously,  then  as  they 
had  done  before  or  as  they  did  afterward.  This 
policy  was  founded  upon  the  soundest  judg- 
ment. The  India  and  China  merchants  of  Phil- 
adelphia understood  perfectly  that  the  titanic 

29 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

struggle  between  England  and  Napoleon  in- 
volved conflicting  policies  and  ambitions  relat- 
ing only  to  the  commerce  between  America  and 
Europe,  not  to  that  between  America  and  the 
Orient.  Occasionally  an  American  ship  bound 
for  India  or  China  or  thence  for  home  would 
be  brought  to  by  an  English  or  a  French 
cruiser  and  searched.  But,  as  those  ships 
never  carried  anything  contraband  of  war,  the 
worst  that  ever  happened  to  them  was  the  oc- 
casional impressment  of  parts  of  their  crews 
by  the  English  or  the  levying  of  a  small  tribute 
by  the  French.  The  voyages,  as  a  whole,  were 
seldom  interrupted,  and  almost  never  termi- 
nated by  detention  or  capture.  These  were 
the  halcyon  days  of  Philadelphia's  trade  with 
the  far  East.  From  1803  to  1815  the  French 
could  not  trade  to  the  Orient  at  all.  And 
though  the  East  India  Company  kept  up  the 
sailings  of  its  fleet  with  more  or  less  regular- 
ity, yet  the  war  rates  of  insurance  and  the  ex- 
pense and  inconvenience  of  constant  convoy 
placed  their  traffic  at  signal  disadvantage  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  neutral  Americans. 
The  Philadelphia-built  Indiamen  and  China 
ships  of  that  day  had  another  and  even  more 
important  element  of  safety :  Given  plenty  of 
sea-room  and  clear  weather,  with  sailing  wind, 


30 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

no  British  or  French,  cruiser  of  their  time 
could  get  anywhere  near  them. 

For  example,  the  "Rebecca  Sims,"  built  by 
Samuel  Bowers  in  1801,  and  overhauled,  cop- 
pered, and  newly  sparred  and  rigged  in  the 
winter  of  1806-07,  passed  Cape  Henlopen  the 
10th  of  May,  1807,  and  took  a  Liverpool  pilot 
aboard  off  the  mouth  of  the  Mersey  the  24th, 
having  run  from  the  Delaware  Capes  to  the 
Mersey  in  fourteen  days.  Notwithstanding  all 
the  improvements  in  clipper  ships  after  her 
time,  the  "Rebecca  Sims"  still  holds  the  sail- 
ing record  between  Henlopen  and  Liverpool ! 

The  "Woodrup  Sims,"  built  for  the  same 
owner  by  Mr.  Humphreys  in  1801,  was  char- 
tered for  the  China  trade  in  1808.  She  passed 
out  of  the  Capes  the  8th  of  April  and  anchored 
in  Whampoa  Roads,  Canton,  the  6th  of  August, 
one  hundred  and  seventeen  days  from  the  Del- 
aware. But  from  this  must  be  deducted  two 
days  hove-to  in  Table  Bay,  Cape  of  Good 
Hope ;  three  days  in  port  at  the  Isle  of  France 
(now  the  Mauritius),  and  two  days  hove-to  in 
Angier  Road,  Java  Head,  the  actual  running 
time  having  been  one  hundred  and  ten  days. 
Manifestly,  ships  capable  of  that  kind  of  sail- 
ing had  little  need  to  fear  the  cruisers  of  Eng- 
land or  of  France. 

To  give  an  approximate  idea  of  the  value  of 
31 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Philadelphia's  East  India  and  China  trade  in 
its  halcyon  days,  it  may  be  related  that  in  the 
autumn  of  1812  the  ship  "  Montesquieu, "  be- 
longing to  Stephen  Girard,  left  Canton  for  the 
Delaware  via  Batavia.  At  the  latter  port  she 
took  on  board,  in  addition  to  her  China  cargo 
from  Canton,  a  rich  freight  of  spices.  She 
left  Batavia  before  the  news  of  the  War  of 
1812  reached  there.  Her  commander  had  in- 
tended to  touch  only  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
on  his  voyage  home,  that  being  a  British  col- 
ony. But  when  about  five  hundred  miles  east 
of  the  Cape  he  spoke  a  Portuguese  vessel 
bound  for  Macao,  whose  captain  informed  him 
that  England  and  the  United  States  were  at 
war.  He  then  ran  for  Tristan  d'Acunha, 
where  he  obtained  needed  supplies  of  water 
and  wood,  with  such  fresh  provisions  as  the 
island  afforded.  Thence  shaping  his  course 
homeward  he  arrived  off  the  Capes  of  the  DeL- 
aware  in  April,  1813.  There  she  was  brought 
to  and  taken  by  the  British  frigate  "Tenedos." 
But  Mr.  Girard  was  on  the  alert,  and,  judging 
about  the  time  she  ought  to  arrive,  had  been 
waiting  for  her  in  a  cottage  he  owned  at  or 
near  Lewes,  and  she  was  taken  in  plain  sight 
of  the  shore.  He  at  once  put  off  in  a  pilot- 
yawl  under  a  flag  of  truce,  boarded  the  British 
frigate,  and  after  some  parley  succeeded  in 

32 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

ransoming  the  "  Montesquieu "  for  £37,000 
sterling  in  specie  bills  on  London!  He  then, 
took  his  ship  up  the  river  to  Philadelphia.  The 
blockade  had  raised  the  value  of  China  and 
East  India  products  enormously  in  the  Ameri- 
can market,  and  Mr.  Girard  realized  the  hand- 
some sum  of  $1,220,000  from  the  sale  of  her 
cargo  over  and  above  the  $185,000  he  had  paid 
as  ransom.  He  was  also  offered  a  large  sum 
for  the  ship  herself  to  fit  out  as  a  privateer, 
but  part  of  his  agreement  with  the  British 
captain  was  that  she  should  not  be  used  for 
that  purpose,  and  so  she  was  laid  up  during 
the  rest  of  the  war. 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  peace  in  1815,  the 
India  and  China  trade  of  Philadelphia  was  re- 
newed with  great  vigor,  and  ship-building  be- 
came more  brisk  than  ever  before. 

The  war  had  nearly  obliterated  the  whaling 
fleet  of  New  England  and  New  York.  Unable 
to  replace  those  lost  or  destroyed  as  quickly 
as  they  desired  in  their  own  ports,  the  whaling 
owners  resorted  to  Philadelphia,  and  in  the 
seven  years  between  1815-1822  sixty-four 
ships,  ranging  from  three  hundred  to  four 
hundred  tons,  were  built  on  the  Delaware  for 
the  whale  fishery  to  hail  from  New  Bedford, 
Nantucket,  New  London,  Sag  Harbor,  and 
other  whaling  ports.  A  peculiarity  of  these 

33  3 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

transactions  was  that  most  of  the  contracts  for 
building  whale-ships  were  taken  by  New  Eng- 
land builders  and  then  sublet  to  Philadelphia 
yards. 

At  the  same  time,  that  is,  in  the  decade  fol- 
lowing the  peace  of  1815,  a  new  element  of 
ocean  commerce  came  into  being.  This  was 
the  inauguration  of  regular  packet-lines.  The 
pioneer  of  this  enterprise  on  any  considerable 
scale  was  the  famous  "Cope  Line,"  founded 
by  Thomas  P.  Cope  in  1820,  and  employing  at 
first  five  ships  which  were  among  the  largest 
and  best  vessels  then  afloat.  This  line  con- 
tinued to  run  until  the  Civil  War.  Its  ships 
were  from  five  hundred  and  sixty  to  one  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  eighty  tons.  They 
sailed  from  Philadelphia  the  20th  of  each 
month  and  from  Liverpool  the  8th,  their  trip- 
time  averaging  thirty  days  and  being  almost 
as  regular  as  the  modern  steamship  lines.  In 
addition  to  this  regular  monthly  service,  extra 
ships  were  frequently  despatched  as  the  exi- 
gencies of  trade  and  travel  might  require. 

Mr.  Cramp,  in  one  of  his  reminiscences,  re- 
lates an  interesting  anecdote  of  the  Cope  Line. 
Soon  after  Jackson  was  inaugurated  Presi- 
dent, he  appointed  John  Eandolph,  of  Eoan- 
oke,  Minister  to  Eussia.  The  Cope  Line  being 
then  far  ahead  of  all  other  channels  of  ocean 

34 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

travel  from  Philadelphia  to  Europe,  Mr.  Ean- 
dolph  presented  himself  at  its  shipping-office. 
In  his  usual  grandiloquent  manner  he  said  to 
the  first  man  he  encountered :  ' '  Sir,  I  want  to 
see  Thomas  P.  Cope. ' '  He  was  shown  to  Mr. 
Cope's  office,  and  said  to  him,  "I  am  John  Ean- 
dolph  of  Boanoke.  I  wish  to  take  passage  to 
Liverpool  in  one  of  your  ships. ' '  Mr.  Cope  re- 
plied, "I  am  Thomas  Cope;  if  thee  goes 
aboard  the  ship  and  selects  thy  state-room  and 
will  pay  $150,  thee  may  go."  Mr.  Cope  ap- 
parently could  see  no  reason  why  a  Philadel- 
phia ship-owner  and  head  of  a  great  packet 
line  should  stand  in  awe  of  even  a  Virginia 
statesman. 

About  1828-30  the  India  and  China  trade  of 
Philadelphia  suddenly  declined,  and  in  a  few 
years  passed  almost  entirely  into  the  hands  of 
New  York  and  Boston.  In  a  historical  paper, 
Mr.  Cramp  describes  the  conditions  of  this 
traffic  at  its  zenith,  and  suggests  the  cause  or 
causes  of  its  remarkable  decline. 

The  custom,  he  says,  was  upon  the  arrival  of 
the  vessels  to  announce  in  the  papers  not  only 
of  Philadelphia  but  also  of  New  York,  Boston, 
Baltimore,  and  even  less  important  cities,  that 
the  goods  would  be  sold  at  auction,  to  begin  on 
a  certain  day.  These  auction  sales  brought 
great  numbers  of  merchants  from  other  cities 

35 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

to  Philadelphia,  and  during  the  first  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century  it  was  beyond  doubt 
the  most  profitable  single  line  of  traffic  on  the 
continent.  The  merchants  engaged  in  it  were 
not  mere  buyers  and  sellers  as  the  term  is  un- 
derstood now.  They  were  important  public 
characters,  diplomatists  and  financiers,  and 
their  influence  extended  to  the  remotest  parts 
of  the  earth.  They  amassed  enormous  for- 
tunes and  lived  like  princes.  Some  of  them, 
either  singly  or  in  associations,  owned  fleets 
that  would  compare  favorably  with  our  then 
existing  navy  in  numbers  and  tonnage.  At  its 
highest  development,  say,  between  1825  and 
1836,  the  volume  of  Philadelphia's  Oriental 
trade  frequently  reached  sixty  millions  a  year. 
Finally,  however,  causes  began  to  operate 
which  gradually  changed  the  tide  of  affairs. 
These  causes,  as  stated  in  the  historical  paper 
by  Mr.  Cramp,  were  numerous.  Among  them 
was  the  fact  that,  as  the  original  merchants 
who  had  built  up  the  trade  grew  old  or  died, 
their  immediate  heirs  or  descendants  did  not 
care  to  carry  on  the  enterprises  of  their  fath- 
ers or  their  grandfathers,  and  many  of  them 
lived  permanently  abroad.  Eventually,  at  the 
moment  when  the  jealousy,  envy,  and  ambi- 
tion of  rivals,  particularly  in  New  York  and 
New  England,  had  reached  the  critical  stage, 

36 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  enacted  a  law 
imposing  a  certain  tax  on  all  auction  sales 
within  the  State.  This  was  a  tax  ostensibly 
universal  and  covering  the  whole  business  of 
sales  by  auction,  but  its  real  purpose  was  to 
get  at  and  derive  revenue  from  the  great  auc- 
tion business  of  the  China  and  India  trade  of 
Philadelphia.  In  those  days  it  might  easily 
happen  that  the  auction  sales  of  two  or  three 
ships'  cargoes  would  exceed  in  value,  and 
therefore  in  revenue,  all  the  rest  of  the  auction 
sales  in  the  State  at  large  during  the  same 
time. 

Of  course,  this  was  a  development  of  a  ten- 
dency on  the  part  of  the  rural  or  country  leg- 
islator of  that  time,  which  unfortunately  has 
not  entirely  died  out,  to  tax  the  great  cities  by 
special  enactments  for  the  benefit  of  the  gen- 
eral revenue  of  the  State. 

As  already  stated,  other  causes  had  for  some 
tune  been  operating  to  weaken  or  shake  Phila- 
delphia's supremacy  in  the  Oriental  trade,  but 
the  imposition  of  this  tax,  falling  upon  the 
heels  of  those  causes,  proved  to  be  the  last 
straw  that  broke  the  camel 's  back.  The  result 
was  that  between  1825  and  1836  the  great  India 
and  China  traffic  of  Philadelphia  almost  dis- 
appeared. However,  and  notwithstanding  the 
diversion  of  this  trade  to  other  ports,  princi- 

37 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

pally  in  New  England,  the  marine  architects 
and  ship-builders  of  Philadelphia  managed  to 
retain  the  better  part  of  the  construction  of 
vessels,  which  for  many  years  afterward  were 
employed  by  their  successful  rivals. 

This  somewhat  extensive  and  discursive 
survey  of  the  early  colonial  and  post-Revolu- 
tionary conditions  of  Philadelphia  ship-build- 
ing seems  requisite  to  a  proper  understanding 
of  the  state  of  the  art  and  its  accompaniments 
at  the  time  when  the  subject  of  this  Memoir 
first  appeared  upon  the  scene,  and  it  also 
serves  to  indicate  or  explain  what  he  had  to  do 
and  the  prior  achievements  which  he  had  to 
equal  or  excel  in  his  pursuit  of  professional 
success  and  eminence. 


38 


CHAPTEE   II 

Birth — Relatives — High  School — Magnetic  Observatory — 
Note  on  Davidson — Surf-boats  for  Mexican  War — 
First  Propeller  Tug  "  Sampson" — Ship-builders  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia — Clipper  Ships,  1850 — 
Zenith  of  American  Carrying  Trade — Crimean  War 
— Cunard  Line — "  Libertador" — Armored  Ships — 
Board  Appointed  to  Take  Charge  of  Appropriation 
to  Build  Them — Account  of  "New  Ironsides" — The 
"Monitor" — Speech  of  Bishop  Simpson — Sub-De- 
partment of  Navy — Light-draught  Monitors — Sink- 
ing of  the  First — Collapse  of  Sub-Department — Re- 
building of  "  Yazoo,"  "  Tunxis,"  and  others—  "  Mian- 
tonomah" — Origin  of  Fast  Cruisers — Evolution  of 
Modern  Marine  Engineering  in  this  Country. 

CHAKLES  HENRY  CRAMP  was  born  May  9, 
1828.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  William  Cramp 
and  Sophia  Miller.  At  the  time  of  his  birth  his 
father  was  a  master  shipwright,  not  yet  en- 
gaged in  ship-building  on  his  own  account,  or 
at  least  not  the  proprietor  of  a  shipyard. 

The  Cramp  family  are  of  the  old  German  de- 
scent, and  they  were  among  the  first  settlers  on 
the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  The  name  was 
Krampf  np  to  the  Eevolution,  when,  according 
to  the  fashion  at  that  time,  it  was  anglicized. 
They  came  from  Baden. 

39 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

The  fact  that  the  art  of  ship-building  "ran 
in  the  blood"  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that 
in  1788  Paul  Jones,  commanding  the  Russian 
Black  Sea  fleet  during  the  Turkish  war  of  that 
period,  under  the  reign  of  Catharine  the  Great, 
says  in  his  journal  that  among  the  foreign  em- 
ployees of  the  Russian  Ministry  of  Marine  was 
a  naval  architect  named  John  Cramp,  who  held 
the  position  of  secretary  to  the  Russian  Black 
Sea  administration  and  had  charge  of  the  dock- 
yard which  had  been  established  at  Kherson. 

The  Millers  and  Byerlys  of  the  mother's 
family  were  also  ship-builders.  Mr.  Cramp's 
maternal  grandfather,  Henry  Miller,  who  had 
become  proficient  as  a  shipwright,  at  twenty- 
one  invested  his  small  fortune  in  an  interest  in 
the  cargo  of  a  vessel  in  one  of  the  earliest  voy- 
ages after  the  Revolution  from  the  port  of 
Philadelphia  to  the  East,  taking  in  China,  the 
Indies,  and  the  Philippines.  His  departure 
was  witnessed  by  his  fiancee,  Elizabeth  Byerly, 
who  waited  faithfully  and  patiently  his  return. 

These  vessels  were  fitted  out  "man-of-war 
fashion,"  with  the  captain  and  mates,  carpen- 
ter and  boatswain  as  officers,  and  the  latter 
were  the  battery  commanders. 

They  always  carried  a  supercargo,  and  sold 
the  cargoes  at  the  various  ports  and  invested 


40 


MEMOIRS  OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

the  proceeds  in  China  shawls,  teas,  spices,  and 
other  products  of  the  East. 

At  that  time  the  waters  of  the  East  Indies 
and  China  swarmed  with  adventurers,  pirates, 
rovers,  and  privateers;  and  the  armed  mer- 
chantmen had  frequent  brushes  with  them.  In 
fact,  many  merchantmen  of  that  time  became 
imbued  with  the  restless,  adventurous  spirit 
of  the  age  and,  commanding  vessels  heavily 
armed,  took  possession  of  some  of  the  weaker 
ships  they  encountered,  becoming  veritable 
pirates  for  a  time,  and  then  returning  to  their 
homes  under  peaceful  guise  when  the  profits 
of  their  voyage  had  reached  a  satisfactory  fig- 
ure. The  foundations  of  many  fortunes  in  our 
Atlantic  cities  were  laid  upon  such  practices. 

Mr.  Miller  embarked  again  with  his  aug- 
mented capital,  in  fact,  making  four  voyages, 
each  time  with  the  profits  of  previous  voyages 
in  the  new  one,  encountering  many  adventures 
with  the  pirates  that  infested  the  waters  of 
the  East  and  with  an  occasional  privateer. 

It  was  on  his  return  from  the  fourth  voyage 
when  he,  with  the  accumulations  of  his  original 
venture  sufficient  to  secure  a  life  of  ease  and 
comparative  luxury,  and  eager  to  meet  his  fian- 
cee, who  would  be  patiently  awaiting  his  ar- 
rival, was  in  sight  of  Cape  Henlopen,  with  the 
full  assurance  that  his  voyages  were  ended  and 

41 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

with  every  anticipation  of  a  happy  consumma- 
tion of  his  eager  wishes,  a  large  privateer  car- 
rying a  French  flag  hove  in  sight  in  a  position 
of  advantage. 

The  privateer,  carrying  a  heavier  armament 
and  larger  crew,  captured  the  vessel  before 
she  could  get  inside  of  the  Capes,  and  took  the 
whole  party  to  Martinique,  where  the  whole 
property  was  confiscated  and  all  the  crew  and 
officers  were  put  in  jail. 

Mr.  Miller,  who  was  a  Mason,  was  astonished 
to  find  that  the  French  jailer  was  also  one, 
and,  as  a  mark  of  kindness,  took  him  out  and 
made  a  body-servant  of  him.  His  ingenuity 
and  adaptability  to  circumstances  enabled  him 
to  escape,  and  he  reached  Philadelphia  without 
a  cent  and  but  little  raiment.  When  Elizabeth 
Byerly  was  seen  next  day  on  Point-no-Point 
Eoad  in  a  buggy  with  him,  she  looked  as  happy 
as  if  fortune  was  already  in  her  hands.  When 
they  were  married  the  next  day,  a  serviceable 
loan  from  a  friend  facilitated  the  marriage 
festivities. 

His  restless,  adventurous  spirit,  augmented 
by  his  voyages  at  sea,  now  took  a  different 
turn,  and  his  time  was  taken  up  by  trips  from 
Pittsburg  to  New  Orleans  in  arks  that  he  and 
his  companions  built  in  Pittsburg,  and  with 
cargoes  of  produce  and  other  freight  they 

42 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

floated  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  reliev- 
ing each  other  at  steering  or  playing  the  vio- 
lin and  taking  an  occasional  shot  at  a  deer 
that  would  be  found  swimming  across  the  river. 
The  rivers  Ohio  and  Mississippi  ran  through 
a  wilderness  at  that  time,  and  its  fascinations 
had  a  wonderful  effect  on  him. 

After  the  cargoes  and  the  lumber  of  which 
the  arks  were  built  were  sold  and  the  proceeds 
lost  in  speculation,  they  would  make  their  way 
up  to  Natchez  or  other  river  towns,  where  they 
would  be  sure  to  get  a  steamboat  or  a  flat  boat 
or  two  to  build,  and  then  return  to  Philadel- 
phia for  a  while.  Henry  Miller  became  well 
known  on  the  rivers,  and  could  always  secure 
a  commission  to  build  the  various  craft  that 
were  found  in  the  waters  of  the  West. 

One  of  Henry  Miller's  sisters  married  John 
Bennett,  a  ship-builder  of  repute,  who  went  to 
live  in  Bordentown  while  engaged  with  his 
sons  at  Hoboken  as  shipwright  and  ship- 
builder for  the  celebrated  Stevens  family.  It 
was  there  that  with  other  vessels  they  built  the 
yacht  " Maria,"  named  after  the  wife  of  John 
Stevens.  The  building  of  the  ' '  Maria ' '  was  an 
event,  and  Maria  Stevens  spent  most  of  her 
spare  time  at  the  yard  in  looking  over  her  con- 
struction and  finish.  The  Stevens  battery  was 
begun  during  the  Bennett  period. 

43 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

Mrs.  Miller 's  brother  was  John  Byerly,  and 
her  sister  married  William  Button,  both  noted 
ship-builders.  So  when  William  Cramp,  who 
had  learned  his  profession  under  Samuel 
Grice,  married  Sophia  Miller,  two  families  of 
ship-builders  were  united. 

Charles  H.  Cramp  was  two  years  old  when 
his  father  acquired  frontage  on  the  Delaware 
in  Kensington  and  established  a  shipyard  of 
his  own. 

This  early  enterprise  of  William  Cramp, 
who  was  then  twenty-three  years  old,  has  since 
grown  to  be  the  great  establishment  known  as 
The  William  Cramp  &  Sons  Ship  and  Engine 
Building  Company. 

It  does  not  seem  necessary  here  to  recount 
the  progress  of  that  pioneer  enterprise.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say  that  at  the  time  when  William 
Cramp  founded  his  shipyard  it  was  one  of 
fourteen  on  the  Delaware  at  different  points 
on  the  river  front  between  Southwark  and 
Kensington,  and  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  four- 
teen that  remains  in  existence. 

Of  Charles  Henry  Cramp's  childhood  and 
early  youth,  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak  here 
in  detail.  He  was,  it  might  be  said,  born  into 
the  atmosphere  of  naval  architecture  and  the 
art  of  ship-building,  and  from  his  earliest  ac- 


44 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

tivity  he  never  practised  or  attempted  to  prac- 
tise any  other  profession. 

When  about  fourteen  years  of  age  he  had  ex- 
hausted the  educational  possibilities  of  the  or- 
dinary schools  and  entered  the  old  Central 
High  School,  which  was  then  presided  over  by 
Alexander  Dallas  Bache,  the  most  consummate 
master  of  the  science  of  applied  mathematics 
and  the  physical  sciences  of  his  time  in  this 
country,  if  not  in  the  world.  While  at  the  High 
School,  Mr.  Bache  was  appointed  to  take 
charge  of  the  appropriation  of  a  million  dollars 
by  Congress  to  defray  the  cost  of  a  series  of 
observations  on  terrestrial  magnetism  in  co- 
operation with  similar  observations  along  the 
same  lines  in  Europe,  and  also  for  the  purpose 
of  making  certain  observations  in  meteorology. 
The  appropriations  for  the  last-named  ob- 
servations were  made  on  the  recommendations 
of  Professor  Espy.  This  was  about  1846. 

While  Washington  was  the  central  point  of 
the  observations,  Philadelphia  was  practically 
the  head-quarters,  because  Professor  Bache 
and  his  associate,  Major  Bache,  resided  there. 

Observations  were  established  at  Charles- 
ton, New  Orleans,  and  Utica,  and  they  com- 
municated with  Toronto,  the  Canadian  station. 

Professor  Bache  took  his  observers  at  Phila- 
delphia from  among  the  pupils  of  the  High 

45 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

School  for  night  work,  and  he  had  the  day 
observers  from  the  University. 

George  Davidson,  Charles  H.  Cramp,  and 
William  H.  Hunter  were  among  the  number, 
and  the  observations,  after  being  collated  at 
Washington,  were  ultimately  deposited  at  the 
Smithsonian  Institute,  and  later  on  formed  the 
basis  of  the  operations  of  the  ' '  Signal  Service 
Bureau."  At  the  time  the  observations  were 
made,  the  magnetic  telegraph  had  not  as  yet 
been  utilized,  and  the  course  of  storms  was 
portrayed  by  mail  after  they  had  occurred. 

Not  long  after  this  period,  Professor  Bache 
was  appointed  to  succeed  Mr.  Hasler  as  head 
of  the  Coast  Survey.  He  invited  the  young 
men  who  were  in  the  group  of  the  magnetic 
installation  to  accompany  him  in  his  new  field 
of  labor,  and  Mr.  Cramp  was  invited  with  the 
rest,  but  desiring  to  engage  in  ship-building  he 
pursued  that  art. 

Mr.  Davidson,  who  was  in  the  magnetic  ob- 
servations with  Mr.  Cramp,  and  was  a  school- 
mate and  life-long  friend,  remained  on  the 
Coast  Survey  under  Mr.  Bache,  and  spent  the 
greater  portion  of  his  life  on  the  Pacific  in 
that  capacity ;  and  it  was  under  his  direction 
and  control  that  the  great  Triangulation  of  our 
newly  acquired  possessions  there  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains  to  the  coast  was  made  by 

46 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

him,  and  said  to  be  by  scientists  the  greatest 
work  in  geodesy  ever  made  by  or  under  one 
man. 

He  is  now  Professor  of  Commercial  Geogra- 
phy in  the  University  of  California.  He  has 
filled  nearly  every  position  there  that  required 
the  highest  attainments  in  the  physical  sci- 
ences. The  Alaska  Commission,  inauguration 
of  Lick  Observatory,  expeditions  for  the  ob- 
servation of  eclipses  of  the  sun,  are  a  small 
portion  of  the  important  positions  that  he  has 
filled.  His  contributions  to  science  would  fill 
volumes. 

At  the  end  of  a  term  of  three  and  one-half 
years  under  the  tutorship  of  Professor  Bache, 
Mr.  Cramp  entered  the  shipyard  of  his  ma- 
ternal uncle,  John  Byerly.  This  arrangement 
was  made,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  his 
father,  William  Cramp,  was  then  actively  en- 
gaged in  ship-building  on  his  own  account ;  the 
idea  being  that  it  would  be  better,  all  things 
considered,  for  him  to  begin  his  practical  ex- 
perience under  other  tutorage  than  that  of  his 
own  father. 

About  1846,  or  in  his  nineteenth  year,  Mr. 
Cramp,  having  attained  to  a  certain  point  the 
qualifications  of  a  practical  ship-builder  in  his 
uncle's  shipyard,  went  to  that  of  his  own 
father. 

47 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Among  the  first  things  undertaken  when  in 
his  father's  yard,  Mr.  Cramp  designed  the 
pioneer  propeller  tug-boat  ever  built  in  the 
United  States,  the ' '  Sampson, ' '  and  it  fixed  the 
type  now  so  numerous  in  the  waters  of  Amer- 
ica. She  was  of  a  peculiar  build.  Her  dimen- 
sions were  eighty  feet  long  and  twenty  feet 
beam.  She  had  as  much  dead  rise  as  a  pilot- 
boat  or  "pungy,"  and  had  a  keel  three  feet 
wide  at  the  stern-post.  In  getting  up  the  de- 
sign, it  was  considered  indispensable  by  the 
marine  engineers  at  that  time  to  have  the  screw 
entirely  beneath  the  bottom  of  the  vessel,  and, 
as  the  screw  was  six  feet  in  diameter,  the  en- 
gine-builders wanted  the  keel  six  feet  wide. 
When  shown  the  impracticability  of  this,  they 
were  content  to  have  three  feet  of  the  screw 
beneath  the  bottom  of  the  ship.  The  propeller 
shaft  ran  on  top  of  the  floors  and  the  bearings 
were  between  the  frames.  The  crank  was  be- 
tween the  frames  and  just  cleared  the  outside 
planking  in  its  sweep.  She  proved  to  be  a 
profitable  investment  for  the  owners,  Michael 
Molloy  &  Son,  who  ordered  another  one. 
This  was  the  "Bird."  She  had  a  narrower 
keel,  and  the  bearings  of  the  propeller  shaft 
were  secured  to  the  top  of  the  floors.  Another 
one  was  built  a  short  time  after,  and,  in  view 
of  the  shallow  water  in  which  she  had  to  run, 

48 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  keel  was  only  ten  inches  wide.  This  was 
considered  a  great  detriment  to  the  efficiency  of 
the  screw;  but  on  the  trial  it  was  found  that 
the  importance  of  wide  keels  was  overesti- 
mated, and  the  practice  came  to  an  end. 

A  considerable  operation  of  unusual  and  in- 
teresting character  was  undertaken  by  his 
father  about  that  time,  and  in  which  Mr. 
Cramp  himself  assisted.  This  was  the  design 
and  construction  of  a  fleet  of  surf-boats  in- 
tended for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  land- 
ing of  General  Scott 's  army  at  Vera  Cruz.  The 
naval  and  military  authorities  of  that  tune 
were  doubtful  of  the  capacity  of  the  ordinary 
boats  of  the  fleet  itself  to  land  a  sufficient  body 
of  troops  at  one  time  to  command  the  shore. 
The  intention  at  first  was  to  provide  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  boats  to  land  the  whole  army 
at  once,  and  three  hundred  boats  were  con- 
tracted for  upon  a  design  made  by  William 
Cramp. 

Only  a  part  of  them  was  built  by  Mr.  Cramp, 
but  they  were  all  built  upon  his  plans.  They 
were  large  surf-boats  of  three  different  sizes, 
and  were  carried  to  Vera  Cruz  on  the  decks  of 
schooners  chartered  for  the  purpose.  The 
thwarts  were  taken  out  of  the  larger  boats  and 
the  smaller  ones  of  different  sizes  were  stowed 
in  them. 

4  49 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

The  "  Standard  History  of  the  Mexican 
War"  shows  that  out  of  the  total  number 
(three  hundred)  designed  by  Cramp  and  con- 
tracted for  with  different  boat-builders,  only 
one  hundred  and  eighty-six  (186)  were  actually 
delivered  and  used,  and  in  the  operations 
against  Vera  Cruz,  General  Scott's  army  was 
landed  by  divisions.  The  Regular  Division 
commanded  by  General  Worth  was  put  on 
shore  first,  then  the  Volunteer  Division  of  Gen- 
eral Robert  Patterson,  and,  finally,  the  mixed 
Regular  and  Volunteer  Division  of  General 
Twiggs. 

After  these  boats  had  been  used  for  their 
original  purpose  they  were  cast  adrift.  Their 
sea-worthiness  may  be  estimated  from  the  fact 
that  some  of  them  were  picked  up  in  mid- At- 
lantic months  afterward. 

There  are  stories  in  history  about  invading 
armies  burning  their  bridges  behind  them,  but 
this  is  unquestionably  the  only  instance  where 
an  army  deliberately  cast  loose  the  boats  in 
which  it  had  landed  upon  the  soil  of  an  enemy. 
Burning  bridges  might  mean,  and  doubtless 
would,  the  simple  destruction  of  means  of  re- 
crossing  a  river  in  the  case  of  disaster,  but  the 
destruction  or  dispersion  of  the  boats  in  which 
Scott's  army  landed  at  Vera  Cruz  meant  the 
obliteration  of  any  possible  means  they  might 

50 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

have  had  of  crossing  a  gulf  and  ocean  had  the 
fortune  of  war  been  adverse  to  them. 

Starbuck,  in  his  "  History  of  the  American 
Whale-fishery,"  refers  to  this  incident,  and 
says  that  some  of  these  boats  were  picked  up 
by  whaling-ships,  whose  crews  highly  prized 
them,  and  that  they  were  used  for  years  after- 
ward in  the  sperm  and  right-whale  fisheries 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  career  of  Mr.  Cramp 
in  ship-building,  the  profession  had  arrived  at 
its  highest  state  of  efficiency  in  everything  that 
related  to  the  design,  finish,  and  outfit  of  ships. 
They  were  with  but  few  exceptions  all  of  wood, 
and  it  was  in  the  wooden  ship  and  during  the 
period  between  1840  and  1860  that  the  art  and 
everything  belonging  to  it  attained  its  highest 
proficiency.  Ship-building  as  an  art,  profes- 
sion, and  science  culminated  about  this  time, — 
the  great  transition  from  wood  to  iron. 

From  the  earliest  period  up  to  that  time  the 
professional  ship-builder  or  " master  builder," 
as  he  has  always  been  called,  was  a  master  in 
reality.  He  designed,  modelled,  and  built  his 
own  ships,  and  his  appreciation  of  the  beauti- 
ful and  his  artistic  taste  were  of  the  most  re- 
fined and  cultivated  character,  and  were  every- 
thing that  the  term  sculptor,  artist,  and  con- 
structor meant.  He  was  acutely  sensitive ;  his 

51 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

contempt  for  the  quack  and  commonplace  in  his 
profession  was  as  great  as  that  of  the  physi- 
cian in  regular  practice  for  the  medical  quack. 

The  builder,  the  shipwright,  the  commander, 
and  sailor  of  this  period  have  never  been 
equalled  in  any  of  their  professions  since,  and 
with  but  few  exceptions  the  modern  steel  ship 
is  a  retrograde  in  everything  pertaining  to  the 
real  art  as  compared  to  the  ship  of  the  period 
we  refer  to.  The  ships,  of  course,  are  larger 
now,  and  that  is  all.  This  period  was  not  only 
noted  on  account  of  the  high  character  of  the 
art,  but  ship-building  plants  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  turned  out  the 
finest  specimens  of  construction  in  the  world. 
All  of  the  workmen — shipwrights,  ship-joiners, 
ship-smiths,  ship-painters,  and  caulkers — were 
without  equals  on  the  planet. 

The  Webbs,  the  Westervelts,  the  Steers  fam- 
ily, Jere  Simonson,  Smith  and  Dimon  and  oth- 
ers of  New  York,  and  John  Vaughan,  John 
Byerly,  the  Van  Duzen  family,  John  K.  Ham- 
mett  and  William  Cramp,  of  Philadelphia, 
were  the  leaders  of  their  profession  the  world 
over.  In  the  navy  were  to  be  found  the  Grices, 
the  Humphreys,  the  Hanscoms,  Delano,  and 
others. 

The  introduction  of  the  iron  ship  was  made 
under  very  unfavorable  conditions.  The  first 

52 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

to  take  hold  of  the  new  material  were  people, 
mechanically  speaking,  of  commonplace  char- 
acter both  here  and  abroad,  and  the  art  or  pro- 
fession as  a  rule  retains  the  original  taint  up 
to  this  time.  There  are  some  exceptions ;  some 
ship-builders  in  Great  Britain  carried  their  art 
into  the  Iron  Age, — the  Napiers,  the  Ingliss 
family,  and  others  in  Great  Britain,  and  the 
Cramps  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Cramp's  mould  loft  practice  and  meth- 
ods as  carried  on  from  the  wooden-ship  period 
is  the  practice  now  in  use  in  the  construction 
of  the  navy. 

The  great  advance  in  the  steamship  of  the 
period  thence  up  to  this  tune  has  been  in  the 
machinery;  and  in  marine  engineering  the 
English  were  our  masters.  There  has  been  no 
advance  here  in  the  ship-building  art  in  any 
respect. 

The  decade  following  the  Mexican  War  and 
preceding  that  of  the  Rebellion  was  marked 
chiefly  by  the  final  or  ultimate  development  of 
the  clipper  type  of  sailing-vessel,  and  also  by 
the  gradual  surrender  of  sail  to  steam  in  pro- 
pulsion and  of  wood  to  iron  in  construction. 
The  clipper  idea  was  undoubtedly  of  Baltimore 
origin,  and,  in  fact,  the  name  of  that  city  was 
given  to  the  type, — the  "Baltimore  Clipper." 
They  were,  of  course,  sailing-vessels.  In  all 

53 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

respects  of  model,  of  structure,  size  of  spars 
and  sails,  dimensions  of  hull,  etc.,  the  type  was 
distinctly  American.  It  is  known,  however, 
that  the  earliest  clippers  built  in  Baltimore 
were  intended  for  and  used  in  the  African 
slave-trade.  In  this  nefarious  traffic  they  were 
extremely  successful,  because  in  the  day  of 
their  beginning  there  were  no  steam  cruisers 
to  enforce  the  laws  making  the  slave-trade  pi- 
racy, and  there  was  no  sailing  cruiser  afloat 
which  could  keep  within  sight  of  a  Baltimore 
clipper  in  the  slave-trading  days. 

The  type,  though  originating  in  Baltimore, 
was  not  developed  there  to  its  ultimate  ca- 
pacity, but  the  idea  was  taken  up  by  Philadel- 
phia, New  York,  and  New  England  ship-build- 
ers and  embodied  in  the  famous  lines  which 
plied  between  this  country  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  The  discovery  of  gold  in  California 
also  gave  a  great  impetus  to  commerce  in  sail- 
ing-vessels. Of  course,  steamships  soon  began 
to  run  from  New  York  to  the  Atlantic  side  of 
the  Isthmus  and  from  the  Pacific  side  to  San 
Francisco,  but  there  was  no  railway  across  the 
IstHmus  at  first,  so  that  very  little  freight 
traffic  could  be  handled  by  these  steamers. 
The  result  was  that  all  freights  between  the 
Atlantic  coast  and  California  had  to  go  around 


54 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Cape  Horn,  and  in  this  traffic  the  clipper  ship 
fully  asserted  its  value. 

The  decade  of  the  50 's  was  really  the  zenith 
of  the  American  carrying  trade  on  the  ocean. 
Relatively  to  the  total  amount  of  ocean  com- 
merce, our  ships  carried  a  larger  proportion 
of  it  than  ever  before  in  time  of  peace.  Of 
course,  during  the  Napoleonic  wars,  when  our 
flag  was  neutral,  we  carried  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  our  own  products  than  in  the  50 's,  but 
never  before  in  a  time  of  general  peace. 

The  Crimean  War,  which  happened  during 
this  period,  also  helped  American  commerce  in 
the  ocean  carrying  trade,  because  the  French 
and  English  took  up  a  great  deal  of  their 
tonnage  for  transporting  troops  and  military 
supplies  during  the  years  1854, 1855,  and  1856, 
and  to  a  great  extent  the  places  of  these  ships 
were  filled  by  vessels  under  the  American  flag. 

All  these  causes  combined  to  create  marked 
activity  in  American  ship-building. 

To  this  might  be  added  the  effort  to  establish 
a  trans-Atlantic  steamship  line  under  the 
American  flag  in  opposition  to  the  heavily  sub- 
sidized Cunard  Line.  This  was  known  as  the 
Collins  Line,  and  while  the  government  aid 
lasted  it  held  its  own  in  competition  with  its 
British  antagonists,  but  the  subsidy  was  soon 

55 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

withdrawn,  and  with  it  the  Collins  Line  col- 
lapsed. 

On  the  whole,  so  far  as  American  ocean  com- 
merce and  ship-building  are  concerned,  the 
decade  of  the  50 's  was  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting in  our  history.  During  that  period  the 
Cramp  concern  built  from  the  designs  and 
under  the  superintendence  of  Charles  H. 
Cramp  a  considerable  number  of  important 
sailing  merchant  vessels,  together  with  sev- 
eral steamers,  mostly  constructed  for  the 
coasting  trade  between  the  ports  on  the  At- 
lantic and  on  the  Gulf.  Cramp  also  built 
during  that  period  seven  steamers  for  Span- 
ish or  Cuban  account  to  be  used  in  the  coast- 
ing trade  of  the  Spanish  West  Indies.  They 
were  called  "Carolina,"  "Cardenas,"  "Al- 
phonso,"  "Union  'Maisi,'  "  "General  Ar- 
mero,"  and  "Union  No.  2."  The  last  one 
was  not  finished  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Re- 
bellion, when  she  was  taken  possession  of  tem- 
porarily by  the  government  and  converted 
into  a  gun-boat,  now  in  the  navy  list  as  the 
"Union."  An  interesting  incident  in  Mr. 
Cramp's  career  was  his  visit  to  Havana  for 
the  purpose  of  delivering  these  ships.  In  their 
delivery  and  in  making  settlement  for  their 
construction  he  spent  several  months  at  Ha- 
vana, where  his  knowledge  of  the  Spanish 

56 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

language,  in  which  he  always  retained  con- 
siderable proficiency,  was  of  great  service  to 
him. 

The  first  war  vessel  designed  by  Mr.  Cramp 
was  the  * '  Libertador, "  built  for  Venezuela. 
She  was  fitted  with  a  pair  of  trunk  engines  by 
Messrs.  Button  &  Smith,  who  were  noted  for 
their  skill  in  building  trunk  and  oscillating 
and  other  marine  engines.  She  mounted  a 
large  pivot-gun  on  her  quarter-deck,  and  when 
fired  off  on  her  trial  trip  at  Market  Street,  the 
windows  there  were  broken  and  the  gun  nearly 
kicked  herself  overboard. 

We  now  arrive  at  the  period  of  the  Civil 
War,  in  the  operations  connected  with  which 
Mr.  Cramp's  genius  first  became  conspicuous 
in  the  broad  or  national  sense. 

The  work  hitherto  described,  although  im- 
portant in  its  time  and  place  and  under  its 
conditions,  which  were  those  of  peace,  had 
really  served  little  more  than  the  purpose  of 
a  practical  training-school  to  fit  him  for  the 
broader  and  more  comprehensive  duties  and 
responsibilities  which  the  exigencies  of  the 
Civil  War  imposed. 

At  the  outbreak  of  that  struggle,  optimistic 
statesmen,  like  Mr.  Seward,  dreamed  that  it 
would  be  over  in  ninety  days.  Those  dreams 
went  up  in  the  smoke  of  the  first  Bull  Kun. 

57 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Then  the  authorities  at  Washington  awoke  to 
the  fact  that  they  had  on  their  hands  a  long 
and  stubborn  war. 

It  is  a  fact  not  generally  known,  or  usually 
lost  sight  of,  that  during  the  first  six  months 
of  the  Civil  War,  that  is  to  say  from  April 
to  September,  1861,  inclusive,  the  South  raised 
and  embodied  a  larger  number  of  troops  than 
the  North  did,  and  the  scale  in  that  respect 
did  not  turn  until  the  government  had  begun 
to  realize  the  results  of  its  call  for  five  hundred 
thousand  men.  But  the  problem  that  con- 
fronted our  authorities  was  not  military  alone. 
It  soon  became  clear  to  sagacious  minds  that 
a  great  sea  power  must  be  created  as  well  as 
an  overpowering  force  by  land.  It  was  a 
foregone  conclusion  that  notwithstanding  the 
great  numerical  disparity  between  the  white 
population  of  the  South  and  that  of  the  North, 
— the  proportion  being  about  six  millions  in 
the  South  to  twenty-five  millions  in  the  North, 
— it  would  be  impossible  to  overcome  them  so 
long  as  their  ports  remained  open.  If  the 
Southern  people  could  continue  without  seri- 
ous hindrance  to  exchange  their  cotton  for 
European,  principally  English,  arms,  ammu- 
nition, military  supplies,  and  munitions  of  war 
of  all  kinds,  together  with  provisions  and  cloth- 
ing of  the  kind  which  they  had  habitually  im- 

58 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

ported,  their  armies  could  keep  the  field ;  their 
railroad  system  could  be  kept  in  fair  running 
order,  and  the  numerical  superiority  of  the 
North  must  thereby  to  a  great  extent  be  neu- 
tralized. Therefore  an  effective  blockade  be- 
came an  immediate  and  absolute  necessity. 

The  total  coast-line  of  the  Confederacy,  At- 
lantic Ocean  and  Gulf  together,  was  three 
thousand  six  hundred  miles  long,  measured  in 
straight  lines.  The  shore-line,  or  sinuosities, 
was  considerably  more  than  twice  that  length. 
It  is  a  coast  indented  with  numerous  inland 
bays  and  estuaries,  affording  easy  access  to 
the  immediate  interior  and  safe  refuge  for 
their  ships  or  the  ships  of  those  with  whom 
they  traded.  Of  course,  a  mere  blockade  by 
proclamation  would  not  be  respected  by  any 
foreign  maritime  power.  Paper  blockade 
so-called  had  been  ruled  out  of  consideration 
years  before  in  solemn  congress  or  conference 
of  the  Great  Powers. 

At  that  moment  our  navy  was  at  its  lowest 
ebb,  and,  of  the  few  ships  available  for  im- 
mediate service,  many  were  on  foreign  stations 
and  could  not  easily  or  quickly  be  recalled,  as 
the  cable  system  of  communication  was  then 
unknown. 

The  task  therefore  became  that  of  imme- 
diately improvising  a  navy  capable  of  en- 

59 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

forcing  a  real  blockade.  To  accomplish  this, 
before  the  end  of  1861  every  steamer  of  every 
description  that  could  keep  the  sea  or  carry  a 
gun  was  pressed  into  the  service,  and  our 
commercial  fleet,  so  far  as  steam  navigation 
was  concerned,  ceased  to  exist. 

These  converted  vessels  served  a  fairly  good 
purpose  ad  interim,  or  until  the  government 
could  bring  its  resources  to  build  a  more  effect- 
ive fleet  of  regular  men-of-war. 

In  addition  to  this  necessity  for  the  imme- 
diate improvisation  of  a  blockading  fleet,  the 
question  of  armored  vessels  presented  itself, 
because,  besides  the  blockade,  bombardment  of 
sea-coast  fortifications  which  had  been  seized 
by  the  Confederates  must  be  an  essential  part 
of  the  general  plan  of  operations. 

The  idea  of  armored  ships  was  then  entirely 
novel.  In  1861  only  two  eff orts  had  been  made, 
one  by  England  and  the  other  by  France,  to 
construct  an  armored  sea-going  vessel.  To 
meet  this  necessity  of  having  ships  capable 
of  attacking  heavily  armed  forts,  Congress 
passed  an  act,  approved  August  3,  1861,  au- 
thorizing the  construction  of  armored  vessels. 
This  act  authorized  and  directed  the  Secre- 
tary to  appoint  a  board  of  skilled  naval  offi- 
cers to  investigate  plans  and  specifications 
that  might  be  submitted  for  the  construction 

60 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

of  iron-  or  steel-clad  steamships  or  steam  float- 
ing batteries;  and,  on  their  favorable  report, 
authorizing  the  Secretary  to  cause  one  or  more 
armored  or  iron-  or  steel-clad  steamships  to 
be  built,  making  an  appropriation  of  $1,500,000 
to  carry  the  act  into  effect.  Pursuant  to  this 
act,  the  Secretary  appointed  on  August  8  a 
board  consisting  of  Commodore  Joseph  Smith, 
Commodore  Hiram  Paulding,  and  Commander 
Charles  Davis,  to  examine  such  plans  as  might 
be  submitted,  and  issued  an  advertisement, 
under  date  of  August  7,  calling  for  plans  and 
prices.  The  advertisement  stated  that  a  gen- 
eral description  and  drawings  of  the  vessels' 
armor  and  machinery,  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  character  and  probable  efficiency  of  the 
vessel,  would  be  required;  also  that  the  offer 
must  state  the  cost  and  time  for  completing, 
exclusive  of  armament  and  stores,  the  rate  of 
speed  proposed,  etc.  Persons  proposing  to 
make  offers  under  this  advertisement  were  re- 
quired to  inform  the  Department  of  their  in- 
tention before  the  15th  of  August,  and  to  have 
their  propositions  presented  within  twenty- 
five  days  from  the  date  of  the  advertisement. 

On  September  16,  1861,  the  board  reported 
that  seventeen  offers  had  been  laid  before 
them.  All  but  three,  however,  were  ruled  out, 
mainly  on  account  of  insufficiency  of  data  or 

61 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

lack  of  drawings.  Several  of  them  were,  in 
fact,  mere  suggestions. 

The  three  selected  were:  First,  one  to  be 
built  of  wood  and  plated  with  four  inches  of 
iron;  to  be  a  full-rigged  ship  of  about  three 
thousand  three  hundred  tons  displacement; 
price,  $780,000;  length  of  the  vessel,  two 
hundred  and  twenty  feet;  breadth  of  beam, 
sixty  feet;  depth  of  hold,  twenty-three  feet; 
contract  time,  nine  months ;  draught  of  water, 
thirteen  feet ;  speed,  nine  and  one-half  knots. 

The  second,  offered  by  C.  S.  Bushnell  &  Co., 
of  New  Haven,  was  of  the  low  freeboard  moni- 
tor type,  the  invention  of  which  is  commonly 
ascribed  to  John  Ericsson;  and  the  third, 
offered  by  same  parties,  which  was  afterward 
known  as  the  " Galena." 

The  first  vessel  described  afterward  became 
the  ' '  New  Ironsides. ' '  Her  hull  was  designed 
entirely  by  Mr.  Cramp.  Generally  speaking, 
her  type  was  that  of  a  broadside  sea-going 
iron-clad.  She  was  a  roomy,  comfortable  ship 
for  her  officers  and  crew.  Her  fighting  quar- 
ters were  well  protected  against  the  shot  of 
that  day.  Although  engaged  with  forts  and 
batteries  a  greater  number  of  times  than  any 
other  one  vessel  in  the  service,  her  armor  was 
never  pierced. 

Perhaps  at  this  point  a  description  of  the 
62 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

vessel  and  the  conditions  attending  her  con- 
struction, in  the  form  of  a  paper  read  some 
years  ago  by  Mr.  Cramp  before  the  Contem- 
porary Club,  of  Philadelphia,  will  be  more 
pointed  and  interesting  than  any  other  delinea- 
tion. 
It  is  as  follows : 

"NEW   IRONSIDES" 

"  When  the  '  New  Ironsides'  was  contracted  for  there 
was  no  white  oak  timber  available  outside  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Timber  of  this  kind  was  cleaned  out  in  Delaware 
and  Maryland,  and  Virginia  was  for  the  time-being  in- 
accessible. So  the  timber  that  must  be  used  was  growing 
in  the  forests  of  Pennsylvania  when  the  contract  was 
signed. 

"  With  the  exception  of  pine  decking  every  stick  of 
timber  was  of  white  oak,  and  being  the  largest  wooden 
ship  ever  built,  the  frames  were  very  heavy, — the  floor 
timbers  were  two  to  each  frame,  and,  being  without  first 
futtocks  and  running  from  bilge  to  bilge,  they  required 
a  tree  large  enough  to  be  twenty-two  inches  in  diameter 
at  a  height  of  forty-five  feet  from  the  ground.  Trees  of 
this  kind  were  very  scarce  in  Pennsylvania,  and  frequently 
only  a  single  tree  would  be  found  in  a  township,  which 
had  been  preserved  as  an  heirloom  by  the  owner,  and  it 
was  often  difficult  to  persuade  him  to  sell. 

"  During  the  month  of  October,  1861,  we  advertised  in 
the  country  papers  that  we  would  pay  a  dollar  a  running 
foot  for  every  tree  that  was  brought  to  us  by  the  first 
of  January,  under  the  requirements  that  they  were  to  be 
at  least  twenty-two  inches  in  diameter  at  forty-five  feet 

63 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

from  the  ground,  and  the  logs  were  to  be  sided  on  two 
sides  anywhere  from  thirteen  inches  up  to  eighteen  inches. 

"At  this  time,  the  beginning  of  the  war,  farming  and 
business  in  country  towns  being  very  slack,  all  suitable 
trees  in  the  forests  of  Bucks,  Berks,  Delaware,  and 
Chester  counties  and  some  counties  more  remote  were 
prospected  by  the  country-people  and  farmers,  who 
worked  very  hard  utilizing  moonlight  nights  as  well  as 
daytime  in  cutting  and  shipping  this  timber.  These 
counties  were  traversed  by  the  North  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road, and  the  various  stations  from  Quakertown  down 
were  soon  gorged  with  logs  that  had  to  be  delivered  at 
our  shipyard  on  or  before  the  first  of  January  to  meet 
our  requirements.  By  the  first  of  January  we  had  logs 
sufficient  to  make  all  the  floors  of  the  ship,  and  quite  a 
number  were  left  at  the  stations  where  they  had  accumu- 
lated too  rapidly  for  the  railroad  to  handle  them,  and 
they  could  not  be  delivered  within  our  time  limit.  This 
timber  was  afterward  bought  at  a  reduced  price. 

"Not  being  able  to  get  yellow  pine,  the  beams  and 
water-ways  were  made  of  white  oak.  Some  of  these  pieces 
were  sixty  feet  long  and  were  sided  up  to  sixteen  inches. 
But  notwithstanding  these  difficulties  and  the  fact  that 
all  the  frame-timber  was  standing  in  the  forest  when  we 
took  the  contract,  yet  the  vessel  was  launched  in  six 
months  after  it  was  signed. 

"  The  region  traversed  by  the  North  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road in  furnishing  the  frames,  water-ways,  and  beams 
became  exhausted  in  its  turn,  so  that  toward  the  termina- 
tion of  the  war  white  oak  for  the  beams  of  the  light- 
draught  monitors  had  to  be  procured  chiefly  in  Columbia 
County,  in  the  interior  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

"  There  was  also  difficulty  in  securing  timber  for  the 

64 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

curved  futtocks,  which  were  principally  made  of  roots 
and  were  obtained  from  Delaware. 

"  The  frames  were  fitted  together  solidly  and  caulked 
before  ceiling  or  planking  was  secured,  and  the  outside 
planking  below  the  lower  edge  of  armor  was  twelve  inches 
thick,  tapering  off  to  the  lower  turn  of  the  bilge  to  five 
inches.  So  the  ship  in  her  defensive  capabilities  was  a 
war  machine  of  no  mean  type. 

"If  the  ship  had  been  built  of  steel  instead  of  wood, 
she  would  have  been  sunk  when  she  was  struck  by  a  spar 
torpedo  off  Charleston. 

"  The  explosion  took  place  at  the  height  of  the  orlop- 
deck,  where  the  outside  planking  was  twelve  inches  thick, 
and  where  the  end  of  a  sixteen-inch  beam  backed  the 
frames.  The  side  sprung  in  about  six  inches  at  the  point 
of  contact  with  the  torpedo,  'brooming'  the  end  of  the 
sixteen-inch  oak  beam,  and  considerable  water  came  in 
for  a  short  time.  The  side  of  the  ship,  through  the  elas- 
ticity of  the  material,  came  back  to  its  original  form  in 
a  short  time  and  the  leak  stopped.  A  gigantic  marine, 
who  was  sitting  on  his  chest  at  that  part  of  the  deck  near 
the  point  of  the  explosion  was  thrown  upward  against 
the  beams  above  him,  breaking  his  collar-bone,  and  he  was 
the  only  person  injured  on  the  ship. 

"  The  time  involved  in  the  construction  of  the  '  New 
Ironsides/  launching  in  six  months  from  the  laying  of  the 
keel,  was  remarkable  in  view  of  the  fact  that,  besides  the 
timber  difficulty,  nearly  all  the  skilled  workmen  and  ship- 
wrights here  had  gone  into  the  navy-yard,  and  we  were 
compelled  to  scour  the  country  for  men  who  were  mostly 
indifferent  mechanics.  A  large  number  of  ship-carpen- 
ters and  other  men  came  from  Baltimore  and  Maine,  who 
had  left  their  homes  to  avoid  conscription  or  to  secure 
the  high  rates  of  wages  paid  here. 

65  5 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

"  An  interesting  incident  connected  with  the  building 
of  the  '  New  Ironsides'  was  the  fact  that  during  the  first 
half  of  her  construction  the  progress  in  naval  ordnance 
had  advanced  so  rapidly  that  the  authorities  concluded  to 
enlarge  the  caliber  of  her  guns  sufficiently  to  double  the 
power  of  the  original  design.  The  ship  was  at  first 
planned  to  carry  sixteen  8-inch  smooth-bore  guns,  which 
was  at  that  time  considered  the  heaviest  caliber  that  could 
be  worked  in  a  broadside  mount.  Having  in  view  the  fact 
that  all  war-ships  heretofore  built,  particularly  steam- 
ships, exceeded  their  calculated  draught,  I  determined  to 
avoid  a  similar  error  in  this  ship.  I  provided  against  it 
in  my  calculations  of  displacement  by  allowing  a  foot  for 
a  margin.  The  draught  was  not  to  exceed  fifteen  feet;  I 
allowed  for  fourteen  feet.  The  minimum  height  of  the 
port-sills  above  water  at  load  draught,  to  insure  sea- 
worthiness and  ability  to  fight  the  guns  in  sea-way,  should 
have  been  seven  feet,  according  to  our  instructions.  But 
in  getting  up  the  plans  I  arranged  that  the  port-sills 
with  the  8-inch  battery  would  be  eight  feet  above  water. 
My  calculations  having  been  correctly  made,  I  had  a  foot 
to  spare. 

"About  three  months  after  we  began  work,  and  when 
the  frames  were  up  and  the  beams  in,  the  Department 
decided  to  arm  the  ship  with  fourteen  11-inch  Dahlgrens 
in  broadside  and  two  200-pounders  (8-inch  Parrotts). 
They  were  all  muzzle  loaders.  This,  together  with  the 
increased  weight  of  ammunition  for  the  larger  guns,  ex- 
actly consumed  my  foot  of  margin  and  brought  the 
port-sills  down  to  the  normal  height  of  seven  feet  above 
water,  and  the  draught  of  ship  there  was  not  over  fifteen 
feet,  the  original  design. 

"  It  may  not  be  improper  to  say  that  I  received  much 
credit  and  congratulation  from  the  Board  and  others  for 

66 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

my  foresight  in  allowing  the  margin  as  I  did,  and  for 
the  correctness  of  my  calculations.  But  for  that  the  modi- 
fied battery  would  have  brought  the  port-sills  down  to 
six  feet  or  less,  which  would  have  rendered  it  dangerous 
to  open  the  main-deck  ports  in  much  of  a  sea. 

"  During  the  earlier  stages  of  the  construction  of  this 
ship  but  little  attention  was  paid  to  it  by  the  people  of 
the  country;  the  exciting  conditions  of  the  war  on  land; 
battles  won  and  lost;  the  movement  of  troops,  etc.,  occu- 
pied the  entire  attention  of  the  people;  so  that  while  the 
yard  was  left  open  and  no  fence  around  it  there  were  no 
visitors. 

"When  the  battle  between  the  'Monitor*  and  'Merri- 
mac'  took  place  a  short  time  before  launching  the  '  New 
Ironsides,'  the  whole  world  was  aroused,  and  their  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  fact  that  there  were  such  things  as 
armor-clad  ships. 

"  When  the  number  of  visitors  who  applied  for  ad- 
mission was  so  great  that  we  had  to  build  a  high  fence 
around  the  shipyard,  and  only  admitted  those  who  secured 
tickets  issued  by  us,  and  when  the  launch  took  place,  it 
was  under  conditions  of  great  excitement  and  enthusiasm. 
The  completion  of  the  ship  was  accomplished  in  a  very 
short  time,  and  her  first  scene  of  operations  was  before 
Fort  Sumter,  which  she  bombarded  eleven  months  and 
two  days  after  the  contract  was  signed. 

"At  this  point  the  history  of  the  contracts  may  be 
stated : 

"  When  the  appropriation  was  made  by  Congress  for 
the  purpose  of  constructing  iron-clads,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  as  has  been  remarked,  created  a  board  on 
armored  ships,  consisting  of  Commodores  Paulding, 
Smith,  and  Davis,  who  were  fully  authorized  to  carry  out 
the  provisions  of  the  law  and  make  contracts,  keeping 

67 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

in  view  what  had  been  done  by  England  and  France  in 
the  way  of  iron-plated  floating  batteries.  These  gentle- 
men advertised  for  plans  and  specifications  accompanied 
by  proposals  for  accomplishing  the  purpose  of  the  act 
of  Congress.  There  were  twenty-five  or  thirty  proposals, 
embracing  a  great  diversity  of  projects,  the  principal  feat- 
ures of  most  of  which  were  lack  of  well-defined  plan, 
type,  and  character. 

"After  considerable  investigation,  the  board  decided 
to  accept  three  plans  and  award  the  contracts.  They  were 
the  '  New  Ironsides,'  the  original  '  Monitor/  and  the 
'  Galena.'  Those  three  vessels  exhibited  a  vast  diversity 
in  form,  construction,  and  outfit. 

"  A  number  of  fables  have  originated  and  have  come  to 
be  believed  as  truths  about  many  of  the  circumstances 
attending  the  selection  of  plans.  Among  others,  it  was 
said  that  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  being  impressed  with  the 
claims  of  Mr.  Ericsson,  had  to  interfere,  and  ordered  the 
board  to  select  the  'Monitor.'  This  is  entirely  false, 
for  no  such  demonstration  was  ever  made  by  Mr.  Lincoln, 
and  the  board  was  not  influenced  at  all  by  any  considera- 
tions of  that  or  any  other  kind  except  their  own  judg- 
ment. 

"  The  contract  for  the  '  New  Ironsides'  was  awarded 
to  Merrick  &  Sons;  the  design,  plans,  and  specifications 
of  hull  complete  had  been  made  by  me  in  connection  with 
Mr.  B.  H.  Bartol,  who  conceived  the  project  and  had 
charge  of  the  proposal  to  the  government, — Mr.  B.  H. 
Bartol  was  Superintendent  of  Merrick  &  Sons  at  that 
time.  When  the  contract  was  awarded  to  Merrick  & 
Sons,  they  sub-let  the  hull  together  with  the  fittings  to 
our  firm,  in  accordance  with  a  previous  agreement  with 
Mr.  Bartol.  The  contract  price  was  about  $848,000. 
Merrick  &  Sons  furnished  the  engines  and  armor  plate. 

68 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

The  engines  were  designed  by  I.  Vaughan  Merrick,  and 
were  duplicates  of  those  which  they  had  completed  for  a 
sloop-of-war,  and  were  for  a  single  screw.  The  speed  was 
about  seven  knots.  She  was  bark-rigged  with  bowsprit. 

"After  completing  the  'New  Ironsides/  I  proposed  to 
build  two  more  of  similar  type  with  certain  modifica- 
tions and  improvements,  that  is,  sea-going  iron-clads,  with 
twin  screws  instead  of  a  single  one,  and  in  increasing  the 
speed  and  the  efficiency  of  the  armor.  But  at  that  time 
what  was  known  as  the  '  Monitor  craze'  was  in  full  blast, 
and,  notwithstanding  the  excellent  all-around  performance 
of  the  'New  Ironsides,'  she  remained  the  only  sea-going 
broadside  iron-clad  in  the  navy,  and  was  the  first  to  fire  a 
gun  at  an  enemy,  and  fought  more  battles  than  all  other 
sea-going  battleships  past  and  present  put  together. 

"  The  armor  plate  of  the  '  New  Ironsides'  was  made 
partly  at  Pittsburg  and  partly  at  Bristol,  Pennsylvania, 
and  was  of  hammered  scrap  iron.  It  was  four  inches 
thick,  and  the  plates,  which  could  now  be  rolled  in  many 
mills  and  be  considered  light  work,  were  then  looked  upon 
as  marvels  of  heavy  forging. 

"  When  the  contract  was  made  for  the  ship,  wages  for 
shipwrights  were  $1.75  per  day,  and  in  less  than  two 
months  they  rose  to  $3  per  day.  We  contracted  for  all 
the  copper  sheathing  and  bolts  the  day  after  signing  the 
contract  at  twenty-nine  cents  per  pound;  in  four  months 
it  was  sixty  cents  per  pound.  Materials  in  general  went 
up  from  50  to  100  per  cent,  before  we  finished  the  ship. 

"  Great  and  radical  changes  have  since  occurred,  but, 
primitive  as  the  '  New  Ironsides'  seems  in  comparison  with 
modern  battleships,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  one  now  existing 
will  ever  see  as  much  fighting  or  make  so  much  history 
as  she  did.  Last  July,  in  an  address  read  before  the 
Naval  War  College  at  Newport,  I  said : 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

" '  I  cannot  better  illustrate  my  point  than  by  com- 
paring the  first  and  the  last  sea-going  battleships  built 
and  delivered  to  the  government  by  Cramp.  The  first 
was  the  'New  Ironsides,'  built  in  1862.  The  last  is  the 
'  Iowa/  completed  in  1897.  Each  represented  or  repre- 
sents the  maximum  development  of  its  day. 

" '  The  '  New  Ironsides'  had  one  machine,  her  main 
engine,  involving  two  steam-cylinders.  The  '  Iowa'  has 
seventy-one  machines,  involving  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  steam-cylinders. 

"'The  guns  of  the  'New  Ironsides'  were  worked,  the 
ammunition  hoisted,  the  ship  steered,  the  engine  started 
and  reversed,  her  boats  handled,  in  short,  all  functions  of 
fighting  and  manoeuvring,  by  hand.  The  ship  was  lighted 
by  oil  lamps  and  ventilated,  when  at  all,  by  natural  air 
currents.  Though,  as  I  said,  the  most  advanced  type  of 
her  day,  she  differed  from  her  greater  battleship  prede- 
cessor, the  old  three-decker  f  Pennsylania,'  only  in  four 
inches  of  iron  side  armor  and  auxiliary  steam  propulsion. 
She  carried  fewer  guns  on  fewer  decks  than  the  "  Penn- 
sylvania," but  her  battery  was  nevertheless  of  much 
greater  ballistic  power. 

"'In  the  'Iowa'  it  may  almost  be  said  that  nothing 
is  done  by  hand  except  the  opening  and  closing  of 
throttles  and  pressing  of  electric  buttons.  Her  guns  are 
loaded,  trained,  and  fired,  her  ammunition  hoisted,  her 
turrets  turned,  her  torpedoes,  mechanisms  in  themselves, 
are  tubed  and  ejected,  the  ship  steered,  her  boats  hoisted 
out  and  in,  and  the  interior  lighted  and  ventilated,  the 
great  search-light  operated,  and  even  orders  transmitted 
from  bridge  or  conning-tower  to  all  parts  by  mechanical 
appliances. 

" '  Surely  no  more  striking  view  than  this  of  the  de- 
velopment of  thirty-five  years  could  be  afforded.' 

70 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAM!* 

"  The  battery  of  the  '  New  Ironsides'  was  mounted  in 
broadside,  and  she  had  eight  ports  of  a  side,  out  of 
which  she  fought  seven  11-inch  Dahlgrens  and  one  200- 
pounder  Parrott,  the  maximum  train  or  arc  of  fire  being 
about  45  degrees. 

"  The  '  Iowa's'  four  12-inch  guns  are  mounted  in  pairs 
in  two  turrets,  and  train  through  arcs  of  about  260  de- 
grees forward  and  aft  respectively.  Her  eight  8-inch  guns 
are  mounted  in  pairs  in  four  turrets,  and  each  pair  trains 
through  an  effective  arc  of  about  180  degrees. 

"  The  '  New  Ironsides'  had  no  direct  bow  or  stern  fire. 

"  The  '  Iowa'  fires  two  12-inch  and  four  8-inch  guns 
straight  ahead  and  straight  astern. 

"  The  maximum  shell-range  of  the  heaviest  guns  of 
the  '  Ironsides'  was  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter,  that  of 
the  '  Iowa's'  heaviest  guns  is  about  eight  miles.  The 
muzzle  energy  of  the  '  Ironsides' '  11-inch  smooth  bores 
was  to  that  of  the  { Iowa's'  12-inch  rifles  about  as  1  to  26. 

u  The  fate  of  the  '  New  Ironsides'  is  well  known :  she 
was  destroyed  by  fire  at  League  Island  in  1866,  about  a 
year  after  her  last  action." 

Judged  by  modern  standards  of  construc- 
tion, the  time  expended  in  building  the  "  New 
Ironsides ' '  was  marvellously  brief,  six  months, 
because,  as  Mr.  Cramp  said,  she  was  in  action 
against  Fort  Sumter  within  eleven  months 
from  signing  of  the  contract. 

Of  course,  there  can  be  no  comparison  be- 
tween the  methods  of  her  construction  or  the 
nature  of  her  appliances  and  those  of  a  modern 
battleship,  yet  in  her  time  and  for  her  day  she 

71 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

was  the  most  formidable  and  powerful  sea- 
going battleship  afloat. 

Mr.  Cramp,  notwithstanding  that  he  was 
entering  upon  a  new  and  untried  field  without 
any  prior  guidance  of  observation  or  experi- 
ence, undertook  the  design  and  construction 
of  this  remarkable  vessel  with  all  the  confi- 
dence that  a  sense  of  professional  mastery 
never  fails  to  inspire;  and  so  confident  was 
he  that  the  "New  Ironsides"  would  prove  a 
success  that,  while  she  was  building,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  design  two  other  vessels  of  the  same 
type,  but  embodying  numerous  improvements 
which  his  experience  in  construction  of  the 
"Ironsides"  from  day  to  day  suggested  to 
him,  and  when  these  designs  were  completed 
he  offered  them  to  the  Department. 

He  then  discovered  that  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment had  become  entirely  under  the  influence 
of  what  might  be  called  the  "Monitor  craze," 
which  absolutely  dominated  the  councils  of  the 
Department  and  of  Congress  in  respect  to 
armor-clad  vesels. 

A  combination,  or  "ring,"  was  formed,  with 
head-quarters  in  New  York,  to  prevent  the 
construction  of  any  type  of  iron-clad  vessel  ex- 
cept monitors,  and  it  had  sufficient  power  to 
carry  its  determination  into  effect. 

A  sudden  halt  was  made  in  the  development 
72 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

of  the  armored  sea-going  type  which  origi- 
nated during  the  Crimean  War.  France  had 
finished  the  construction  of  "La  Courunne," 
*  *  La  Gloire, ' '  and  several  others,  one  of  which 
had  made  a  voyage  to  Vera  Cruz  before  our 
Civil  War,  and  certain  lessons  derived  from 
that  ship  during  the  voyage  were  utilized  in 
the  construction  of  the  "New  Ironsides." 
Both  England  and  France  were  proceeding 
slowly  in  the  development  of  the  very  complete 
type  of  battleship  of  the  present  day.  While 
they  built  several  vessels  of  an  improved  moni- 
tor type  and  adopted  the  turret  on  a  roller 
base,  in  many  cases  they  adhered  to  the  course 
first  laid  out.  The  late  British  battleships  have 
fixed  barbettes  and  shields  for  their  heavy 
guns. 

The  old  Timby  turret  is  practically  a  re- 
volving barbette  extending  above  the  guns, 
which  had  to  be  loaded  at  the  muzzle  and  the 
rammer  being  jointed,  eleven  minutes  being 
occupied  in  loading  and  firing. 

In  the  operations  before  Charleston,  the 
Confederates  would  leave  their  bomb  proofs 
after  a  shot  was  fired,  and  prepare  for  the 
next  one  during  the  eleven  minutes  and  retire 
unharmed,  ready  to  renew  the  contest.  Under 
these  conditions,  the  defence  became  a  system 


73 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

of  guns  in  a  casemate  connecting  with,  a  bomb 
proof. 

The  old-fashioned  monitor,  viewed  simply 
as  a  floating  battery  for  use  in  smooth  water, 
was  serviceable.  It  was  not  in  any  sense  a 
sea-going  vessel,  and  it  was  always  in  danger 
of  foundering  as  it  crept  along  the  coast  from 
harbor  to  harbor.  Besides  this,  it  was  almost 
intolerable  to  its  officers  and  men  in  the  living 
sense.  In  fact,  service  in  the  monitors  devel- 
oped a  new  and  distinct  disease  known  in  the 
war-time  pathology  as  the  "monitor  fever." 
Whenever  one  was  torpedoed,  as  for  example 
the  "Tecumseh"  in  Mobile  Bay,  she  sank  im- 
mediately; so  quickly,  in  fact,  that  her  crew 
below  deck  were  unable  to  escape.  The  tor- 
pedo which  the  "New  Ironsides"  resisted 
practically  without  injury  would  have  in- 
stantly sunk  any  monitor  then  existing.  The 
"Ironsides,"  on  the  contrary,  was  a  sea-going 
vessel  of  the  best  and  stanchest  type,  capable 
of  any  length  of  voyage  with  comfort  and  per- 
fect safety  to  her  officers  and  crew. 

A  wise  administration  of  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment, or  one  not  affected  by  the  influence  of 
cranks  and  combinations,  would  have  built  at 
least  half  a  dozen  vessels  of  that  type  as  soon 
as  they  could  be  constructed. 

Mr.  Cramp,  realizing  and  appreciating  the 
74 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

value  of  the  type,  and  knowing  that  the  in- 
fluences which  prevented  its  multiplication  in 
the  navy  were  unworthy,  keenly  felt  the  sting 
of  his  repulses.  However,  he  proceeded  to 
build  such  ships  as  the  Department  required, 
including  a  monitor,  and  from  that  time  to 
the  end  of  the  war  gave  the  navy  the  full  bene- 
fit of  his  experience  and  skill  in  all  directions, 
both  in  new  construction  and  repair. 

Partly  through  the  natural  unthinking  en- 
thusiasm of  the  people  in  times  of  great 
excitement  and  partly  through  a  carefully 
planned  campaign  of  sentiment  adroitly  man- 
aged by  the  ring,  the  monitor  became  almost 
the  symbol  of  patriotism. 

After  the  repulse  of  the  "Merrimac"  in 
Hampton  Eoads,  Ericsson  was  almost  deified, 
particularly  by  that  class  of  people  who  con- 
sider rant  synonymous  with  eloquence.  Yet 
such  sentiments  were  actually  cherished  at  the 
time  by  a  great  many  people  who  knew  noth- 
ing whatever  about  the  actual  merits  of  differ- 
ent types  of  vessels.  But  their  fanaticism 
made  the  operations  of  the  monitor  ring  easy, 
and  at  the  same  time  made  it  impossible  to 
introduce  or  carry  forward  any  other  type  of 
armored  vessel  during  the  whole  Civil  War, 
no  matter  how  efficient  or  how  desirable  it 
might  be. 

75 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Captain  Ericsson  is  popularly  credited,  and 
doubtless  will  be  in  history,  with  the  complete 
invention  of  the  monitor.  So  far  as  the  form 
and  structure  of  the  hull,  which  was  simply 
"scow  bottom,"  and  the  fantastic  type  of  its 
propelling  engine  and  the  Ericsson  screw  were 
concerned,  this  is  probably  true,  at  least  so  far 
as  known ;  but  the  main  distinguishing  feature 
of  the  monitor  was  not  its  model  of  hull  nor 
its  propelling  engine,  but  its  revolving  turret ; 
and  this  device  had  been  invented  and  patented 
by  Mr.  John  E.  R.  Timby  several  years  before 
the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  Timby  had 
proposed  to  use  the  revolving  turret  system 
for  sea-coast  defence,  as  a  primary  proposi- 
tion. However,  in  his  description,  upon  which 
his  letters-patent  were  issued,  he  suggested 
that  it  might  also  be  applied  to  floating  struc- 
tures or  batteries.  All  that  Ericsson  did  in 
the  application  of  the  turret  system  to  his 
monitor  was  to  appropriate  Timby 's  invention 
and  act  upon  his  suggestion ;  a  fact  which  was 
abundantly  demonstrated  afterward  when  Mr. 
Timby  received  compensation  for  the  infringe- 
ment. 

But  all  these  facts  probably  went  for  little 
or  nothing.  It  seemed  that  the  people  had 
determined  to  make  a  demigod  of  Ericsson, 


76 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

and  there  was   no  gainsaying  them.     They 
would  have  it  so,  and  so  it  is. 

Mr.  Cramp,  in  a  hitherto  unpublished  paper, 
deals  with  the  history  and  operations  of  the 
monitor  ring  with  regard  to  its  personnel  and 
the  details  of  its  origin  and  methods,  the  origin 
of  the  ''fast  cruisers  of  the  navy,"  and  the 
"state  of  marine  engineering  of  this  country 
as  it  existed  at  that  time."  In  this  paper,  as 
will  be  seen,  he  hews  to  the  line. 

THE  "MONITOR." 

"  The  coming  out  of  the  '  Merrimac'  for  the  last  time, 
and  her  successful  repulse  by  the  '  Monitor'  having  driven 
her  back  into  Norfolk,  gave  a  boom  to  the  monitor  system, 
the  extent  of  which  had  never  been  witnessed  in  this 
country  before. 

a  The  enthusiasm  that  always  greets  successful  combats 
in  war-time  was  on  this  occasion  of  an  extraordinary 
character,  and  the  whole  country  was  aroused  to  the  high- 
est pitch  of  excitement. 

"  The  designer  of  the  ship,  John  Ericsson,  already  well 
known  as  one  of  the  principal  promoters  and  successful 
advocates  of  screw  propulsion,  and  Alban  C.  Stimers,  who 
was  engineer  during  the  fight,  and  some  of  the  officers, 
were  the  recipients  of  the  most  extravagant  and  hysterical 
demonstrations  in  the  way  of  hero  worship. 

"An  illustration  of  the  effect  that  this  battle  had  on 
the  popular  mind  at  that  time  may  be  found  in  an 
address  of  Bishop  Simpson  at  the  Academy  of  Music 
in  Philadelphia. 

"  During  the  war,  frequent  addresses  were  made 
77 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

throughout  the  country  by  well-known  orators,  states- 
men, and  ministers  of  the  gospel,  intended  to  promote 
a  patriotic  spirit  and  encourage  the  doubtful. 

"  I  was  present  at  the  Academy  of  Music  shortly  after 
the  '  Monitor'  had  been  made  famous  by  repulsing  the 
'  Merrimac/  when,  in  referring  to  Mr.  Ericsson,  the 
Bishop  stated  that  '  the  Almighty  had  directly  interposed 
in  the  contest  between  Captain  Ericsson  and  Robert 
Stephenson  in  England/  both  of  whom  had  responded  to 
the  offer  of  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway  Com- 
pany of  a  premium  of  £500  sterling  for  the  most  im- 
proved locomotive  engine.  This  was  at  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  introduction  of  railways  in  Great  Britain, 
and  the  following  engines  entered  for  the  prize: 

"  The  '  Novelty/  by  Ericsson  and  Braithwait ;  the 
'  Rocket/  by  Robert  Stephenson ;  the  '  Sans  Pareil/  by 
Timothy  Hackworth,  the  '  Perseverance/  by  Mr.  Burstall. 

"  Mr.  Joseph  Harrison  states  in  his  book,  the  '  Locomo- 
tive Engine/  that  '  the  prize  was  easily  won  by  the 
"  Rocket,"  built  by  George  and  Robert  Stephenson,  having 
fulfilled,  in  some  respects,  more  than  all  of  the  require- 
ments of  the  trial.' 

"Bishop  Simpson,  in  referring  to  this  incident,  said 
that  '  the  Almighty  had  interposed  to  prevent  Captain 
Ericsson  from  succeeding  there,  so  that  he  might  become 
disgusted  with  England  and  shake  the  dust  of  that  coun- 
try from  his  feet  and  depart  for  America,  in  order  that 
he  might  be  here  ready  to  save  the  country.' 

"  In  using  the  words  '  in  saving  the  country/  Bishop 
Simpson  looked  on  the  fight  between  the  'Monitor*  and 
the  '  Merrimac'  as  a  great  many  other  people  did ;  that  is 
to  say,  if  the  '  Merrimac'  had  escaped,  she  would  have 
bombarded  Philadelphia  and  New  York  and  other  cities 
of  the  North,  thereby  compelling  the  government  to  sub- 

78 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

mit  to  the  South.  But  the  '  Monitor*  having  destroyed  her 
before  she  got  out,  John  Ericsson  was  therefore  entitled 
to  all  the  credit  due  to  a  person  who  had  been  specially 
delegated  by  the  Almighty  for  saving  the  country.  John 
Ericsson  had  already  become  famous  on  account  of  con- 
spicuous efforts  in  promoting  screw  propulsion  in  the 
United  States  generally,  and  particularly  with  reference 
to  the  use  in  warship  construction.  In  view  of  his  un- 
ceasing labors  in  this  direction  his  name  had  become  in- 
separably associated  with  the  screw  propeller.  This 
added  much  to  the  enthusiasm  that  prevailed  at  that  time, 
and  all  minor  considerations  being  overlooked.  It  was 
discovered  a  very  short  time  after  the  war  was  ended 
that,  even  if  the  'Merrimac'  could  have  escaped  at  that 
time  from  her  encounters  with  the  'Cumberland/  '  Con- 
gress,' and  'Monitor/  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
her  to  go  as  far  north  as  Philadelphia  or  New  York.  It 
was  found  that  she  was  in  a  very  badly  crippled  state  as 
a  result  of  her  ramming  the  '  Cumberland'  and  '  Con- 
gress/ and  the  statement  was  made  by  those  who  tempo- 
rarily repaired  her  in  Norfolk  that  her  bow  was  split  to 
a  great  distance  below  the  water. 

"  To  use  the  words  of  one  of  the  workmen,  he  had  '  put 
more  than  a  bale  of  oakum  in  the  opening.' 

"  The  construction  of  the  '  New  Ironsides/- '  Monitor/ 
and  '  Galena'  had  already  been  practically  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  Construction  Department  of  the  Navy 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  became  a  convert  to 
the  monitor  craze  after  the  battle  with  the  'Merrimac.' 
The  '  Monitor*  had  become  the  ideal  type  of  armored  war- 
ship, and  a  sort  of  sub-department  of  the  navy  was 
created  and  located  at  New  York  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  building  and  fitting  out  monitors. 

"  This  establishment  in  New  York  was  placed  under  the 
79 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

immediate  supervision  of  Admiral  Gregory,  the  active 
head  being  Chief  Engineer  A.  G.  Stimers,  who  had  been 
the  chief  engineer  of  the  'Monitor'  during  her  engage- 
ment with  the  'Merrimac.'  He  had  associated  with  him 
Isaac  Newton  and  Theodore  Allen,  the  nephew  of  Mr. 
Allen  of  the  Novelty  Works  in  New  York.  This  board 
was  in  direct  communication  with  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy. 

"  The  monitor  party,  which  may  be  described  as  the 
executive  of  the  ring  or  the  New  York  section  of  the 
Navy  Department,  soon  assumed  a  position  of  great 
power  and  responsibility;  the  balance  of  the  Depart- 
ment amounting  to  practically  mere  nothing  in  the  way 
of  new  construction. 

"Mr.  Stimers  and  Mr.  Allen  were  autocrats.  They 
spent  money  lavishly,  ordered  vessels,  designed  them,  made 
contracts,  sub-contracts,  made  purchases,  and  carried 
everything  with  a  high  hand. 

"  Mr.  Lenthall,  the  Chief  Constructor  of  the  Navy,  and 
Mr.  Isherwood,  who  was  on  his  staff  as  engineer,  were 
entirely  set  aside,  and  practically  disappeared  from  the 
scene  as  far  as  new  constructions  were  concerned. 

"  A  large  number  of  monitors  were  built,  slightly  im- 
proved in  structural  detail  over  the  original,  and  were 
engaged  as  soon  as  finished  in  the  operations  before 
Charleston. 

"  The  head-quarters  in  New  York  was  often  called  the 
'draughtsmen's  paradise,'  on  account  of  the  great  num- 
ber of  draughtsmen  employed  there,  and  who  were  getting 
twenty  dollars  a  day.  The  most  extraordinary  displays  of 
drawings  were  issued  to  the  various  machine-shops  which 
were  building  monitors  at  that  time.  They  were  par- 
ticularly noticeable  on  account  of  the  extravagant  char- 
acter of  the  shading  of  the  circular  form  of  the  turrets, 
smoke-stacks,  conning-towers,  etc. 

80 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

"  The  inspectors  of  construction  that  were  employed  by 
the  New  York  party  emulated  their  superiors  in  carrying 
things  with  a  high  hand  at  the  various  concerns  where 
they  inspected  the  vessels. 

"  Up  to  that  time  our  concern  had  not  built  any  moni- 
tors. We  were  not  in  what  was  called  the  '  Monitor  Ring/ 
not  having  indorsed  the  type  nor  manner  of  construction, 
besides  being  the  authors  of  the  'New  Ironsides'  type, 
which  the  ring  had  determined  to  suppress. 

"  Immediately  after  the  '  New  Ironsides'  had  been  en- 
gaged in  a  small  way  in  the  first  fight  at  Charleston,  we 
recommended  that  the  government  should  build  other 
vessels  like  her,  but  with  twin  screws  and  with  other 
improvements. 

"  By  request  of  Assistant  Secretary  Fox,  we  prepared 
plans  of  the  proposed  ships,  some  all  iron,  and  others 
of  iron  and  wood  in  the  construction  of  the  hull;  but  the 
Department  in  Washington  refused  to  listen  to  or  recom- 
mend anything.  The  New  York  section  continued  to  be 
paramount,  and  we  were  ruled  out  of  naval  construction 
for  a  time. 

LIGHT-DRAUGHT   MONITORS. 

"  The  next  development  of  the  craze  was  that  of  the 
so-called  '  Light-draught  Monitors.'  These  were  intended 
to  operate  in  Albemarle  and  Pamlico  Sounds  and  various 
other  shallow  waters  in  the  South.  Twenty  of  them  were 
authorized,  and  we  responded  to  the  advertisement  of 
them  by  bidding  for  one  or  more. 

"It  was  found  that,  with  the  exception  of  Harlan  & 
Hollingsworth,  we  were  the  lowest  bidders.  We  were  a 
little  higher  than  Harlan  &  Hollingsworth,  but  the  time 
in  which  we  offered  to  build  them  was  shorter  than  theirs. 

"  The  government  promptly  gave  us  one  and  the  Harlan 
6  81 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

yard  one,  and  notified  eighteen  other  bidders  that  they 
could  have  one  each  at  the  same  price  as  ours,  which 
amounted,  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  to  $350,000. 

"  Some  of  the  bids  ran  as  high  as  $750,000,  and  these 
bidders  had  some  delicacy  in  accepting  prices  at  one-half, 
because,  to  accept  the  contract  at  one-half,  it  would  be  an 
acknowledgment  that  they  did  not  know  what  they  were 
about,  or  that  they  were  trying  to  rob  the  government. 

"  The  fact  is,  that  none  of  the  bidders  except  Harlan 
&  Hollingsworth  and  ourselves  were  ship-builders.  They 
were  in  other  lines  of  mechanical  construction,  and  of 
course  they  did  not  have  the  slightest  idea  of  what  was 
to  be  done  or  what  it  would  cost. 

"  The  drawings  on  which  the  vessels  were  to  be  built 
were  of  the  crudest  character ;  only  a  midship  section  and 
one  or  two  vague  longitudinal  sketches  being  furnished  as 
a  guide  or  basis  of  construction. 

"  Notwithstanding,  as  I  said  before,  we  were  the  lowest 
bidder,  thereby  saving  millions  of  dollars  to  the  govern- 
ment, only  one  was  awarded  to  us.  The  balance  was 
offered  to  the  other  bidders  at  our  price,  and  the  offer  was 
accepted  by  most  of  them. 

"Having  received  our  contract,  we  promptly  visited 
New  York  to  get  the  details  of  construction  and  engines 
in  order  to  begin  work  and  procure  materials.  The  de- 
mand for  materials  was  greater  than  the  supply,  and  all 
were  in  a  feverish  state  of  excitement.  To  get  our  orders 
out  quickly,  I  immediately  made  application  to  Mr. 
Stimers  for  plans,  and  had  a  long  and  detailed  conversa- 
tion with  him  and  Theodore  Allen  over  what  plans  they 
had  developed,  and  numerous  alterations  were  made  to 
the  plans  as  drawn. 

ft  Their  first  plan  permitted  the  boilers  to  come  within 
three  and  one-half  inches  of  the  bottom  plating  of  the 

82 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

ship,  practically  landing  the  boilers  on  the  three  and  one- 
half  inch  angle-bars,  which  had  at  that  time  no  floors. 

"  I  suggested  in  a  rather  strong  way  that  this  would  not 
do,  and  after  considerable  discussion  they  concluded  to 
make  the  vessels  a  little  deeper,  give  the  deck  more  spring, 
and  put  shallow  floors  in.  Other  important  alterations 
were  made  as  the  work  progressed. 

"  We  would  have  had  our  vessel  overboard  first,  but  the 
northward  march  of  General  Lee  previous  to  the  battle 
of  Antietem  interfered  with  the  furnishing  of  materials, 
and  also  with  our  own  working  force  in  the  shipyard. 

"  Our  employees,  with  those  of  the  rolling-mills  supply- 
ing materials  near  Philadelphia,  organized  themselves  into 
military  companies  for  the  purpose  of  defence.  Two  com- 
panies were  formed  in  our  establishment. 

"  While  these  delays  affected  us,  they  did  not  interfere 
with  the  progress  of  the  monitor  which  was  building  in 
Boston;  but  when  this  vessel  was  launched,  she  sank  to 
the  bottom  from  lack  of  buoyancy,  and  a  halt  was  called 
on  the  nineteen  other  vessels. 

"  These  vessels  had  been  constructed  on  very  vague 
plans  and  conditions.  Mistakes  were  made  in  the  original 
design,  and  weights  added  without  investigating  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  original  sketch,  which,  with  the  so-called 
'  calculations,'  were  furnished  by  Mr.  Ericsson ;  at  least 
they  had  been  examined,  approved,  and  signed  by  him. 
They  were  not  furnished  to  bidders. 

"  The  day  after  this  launch,  the  '  Monitor  Ring*  was 
in  a  state  of  collapse!  Mr.  Lenthall  and  Mr.  Isherwood 
now  reasserted  their  proper  authority.  They  ordered  Mr. 
Stimers  and  Mr.  Allen  to  reduce  the  weights  in  the  tur- 
rets, and  wherever  else  it  was  possible  to  do  so  sufficiently 
to  make  the  vessels  float. 

"  These  reductions  in  equipment,  outfit,  etc.,  were  com- 
83 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

municated  to  the  builders  at  Chester,  before  they  launched 
the  '  Tunxis' ;  but  these  vessels,  by  the  reductions,  were 
rendered  entirely  useless  for  their  designed  service,  or 
any  other. 

"  Finding  that  the  Boston  vessel  and  the  '  Tunxis/  built 
at  Chester,  notwithstanding  the  alterations,  lacked  effi- 
ciency to  a  serious  degree,  they  decided  to  rebuild  most 
of  the  others  by  deepening  them,  and  the  whole  matter 
was  placed  in  my  hands  by  Chief  Engineer  King,  who 
with  some  others  were  designated  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  to  investigate  and  prepare  plans  for  the  deepening, 
and  to  ascertain  the  cost  of  the  alterations. 

'  After  a  careful  investigation,  I  found  it  would  be 
necessary  to  increase  the  depth  of  the  hulls  about  thirty- 
three  inches,  involving  the  necessity  of  raising  the  solid 
oak  decks  to  that  extent  with  the  hull  proper,  and  the 
armor  backing  and  armor  which  had  to  be  taken  off  and 
replaced. 

"A  so-called  expert  was  detailed  to  assist  me  in  my 
calculations,  but,  having  no  use  for  him,  I  did  not  avail 
myself  of  his  services. 

"  When  I  sent  my  plans  and  our  price  for  the  deepen- 
ing of  the  vessel  to  the  Secretary,  he  immediately  awarded 
us  the  contract  for  deepening  ours  (the  'Yazoo'),  and 
accepted  our  price,  and  notified  the  eighteen  other  people 
that  he  would  give  them  the  same  price  for  deepening 
theirs.  The  other  contractors  would  not  accept  my  price, 
and  they  denounced  me  for  not  having  put  a  '  higher  price 
on  the  job,'  when  I  had  the  opportunity  to  do  so.  I  told 
them  that  I  had  estimated  that  we  would  make  30  per 
cent,  profit,  and  I  contended  that  that  was  enough,  not- 
withstanding we  were  under  the  influence  of  war  prices, 
and  that  I  had  been  delegated  to  do  what  I  considered  was 


84 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

right.  In  other  words,  I  held  that  the  Secretary  had 
placed  me  upon  honor. 

"  These  eighteen  other  builders  ultimately  got  higher 
prices  than  we  did.  They  made  all  sorts  of  claims  to  the 
government  through  their  representatives,  and  made  life  a 
burden  to  the  Secretary  by  showing,  or  endeavoring  to 
show,  him  that  wages  were  higher  everywhere  else  in  the 
localities  where  these  vessels  were  built  than  they  were 
in  Philadelphia. 

"  In  fact,  every  one  of  the  other  builders  ultimately  re- 
ceived higher  prices  than  we  did,  and  later  on  some  were 
awarded  additional  sums  by  act  of  Congress,  notwithstand- 
ing that  the  drawings,  specifications,  plans,  and  designs 
for  the  alterations  were  made  by  me  without  pay !  without 
even  thanks! 

"  Subsequently  the  Department  decided  not  to  alter  all 
alike,  and  about  one-half  of  them  were  finished  without 
the  turrets,  and  the  big  guns  were  taken  out,  thereby  re- 
lieving their  builders  of  the  necessity  of  making  them 
deeper.  The  decks  were  finished,  and  they  were  desig- 
nated as  a  sort  of  torpedo  boat  for  harbor  defence.  These 
vessels,  as  altered  according  to  my  recommendations, 
would  have  been  efficient  factors  in  the  operations  in  the 
southern  waters  if  the  war  had  not  ended  before  they 
were  finished. 

"  The  '  Sub-Department'  in  New  York,  with  all  its  in- 
vestitures and  appointments,  was  abandoned,  and  the 
Navy  Department  took  up  the  monitor  matter  from  that 
time  onward..  But  the  mischief  had  been  done.  The  ser- 
vice had  been  debauched  and  the  Treasury  robbed  of 
millions,  which  an  intelligent  policy  from  the  start  might 
have  saved. 

"During  the  alterations  on  the  'Yazoo,'  the  Chester 
light-draught  monitor  was  sent  to  our  place  to  be  altered. 

85 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Notwithstanding  she  had  been  finished  with  the  reduced 
weights  recommended  by  Mr.  Stimers,  she  still  continued 
defective,  and  was  sent  to  our  yard  to  be  altered  accord- 
ing to  my  new  plan. 

"  As  it  was  necessary  to  raise  the  turret  in  order  to 
raise  the  deck,  and  as  we  were  compelled  to  haul  the 
vessel  out  of  the  water,  we  took  the  guns  out  of  the 
turret  and  proceeded  to  remove  it  also.  Hoisting  out  the 
guns  was  an  easy  accomplishment,  but  the  removal  of  the 
turret  was  a  difficult  problem. 

"  At  first  sight,  cutting  out  the  rivets  and  bolts,  taking 
apart  and  rebuilding  it,  appeared  the  most  feasible.  This, 
however,  was  an  expensive  transaction.  After  careful  in- 
vestigation, we  concluded  that  it  could  be  hauled  off  the 
ship  on  to  the  dock  on  sliding-ways  if  the  work  was  done 
with  the  greatest  rapidity  with  the  best  men  at  it.  The 
removal  of  guns  and  turret  to  the  dock  was  successfully 
accomplished. 

"  On  account  of  the  great  cost  due  to  occupying  a  dry- 
dock  long  enough  to  make  the  change,  it  was  determined 
to  haul  her  out  on  sliding-ways,  reversing  the  process  of 
launching,  and  that  without  using  a  coffer-dam  for  laying 
the  ground-ways. 

"  The  vessel  was  hauled  out  by  the  use  of  six  12-inch 
falls,  two  of  which  were  attached  to  end  of  upper  ways, 
two  to  a  chain  that  passed  around  the  stern  extending  to 
amidships,  the  ends  lashed  to  the  ship  just  above  high- 
water  mark,  and  the  other  two  to  holes  in  the  bow  made 
for  the  purpose. 

"  When  the  six  large  '  crabs'  were  started  with  all  of 
the  men  that  could  be  put  on  them,  they  never  stopped 
until  the  vessel  was  entirely  out  of  the  water,  taking  a 
day  and  a  night  for  the  operation. 

"  This  was  by  all  odds  the  heaviest  vessel  ever  hauled 
86 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

out  on  ways  in  this  country,  and,  in  view  of  the  sim- 
plicity of  its  preparations  and  the  limited  cost,  was  one 
of  the  great  achievements  of  the  time  occupied  by  the 
Civil  War.  But  little  or  no  notice  was  taken  of  it  by  the 
papers,  as  battles  lost  and  won  were  the  sensation  of  the 
day. 

"  While  the  craze  for  constructing  monitors  had  pos- 
session of  the  country,  the  government  built  nothing  else 
in  the  way  of  armored  vessels. 

"  Mr.  Lenthall  and  Mr.  Isherwood,  who  was  on  Mr.  Len- 
thall's  staff  at  that  time,  had  no  power  to  antagonize  the 
monitor  craze  successfully,  and  a  large  one  of  wood  was 
ordered  to  be  built  in  each  navy-yard,  to  be  designed  by 
the  constructor  of  that  particular  yard  as  far  as  the 
hulls  were  concerned.  But  little  money  of  the  vast  ex- 
penditures of  the  navy  during  the  war  was  devoted  to 
other  iron-clad  constructions  than  that  of  the  monitor 
class. 

"  The  '  Miantonomah,'  which  was  one  of  these  vessels 
built  in  one  of  the  navy-yards  and  designed  by  the  con- 
structor at  the  navy-yard  in  which  she  was  built,  was  sent 
to  Russia  under  command  of  Commodore  John  Rodgers 
with  Assistant  Secretary  Fox,  as  Special  Envoy  to  convey 
to  the  Emperor  certain  congratulations.  The  idea  was 
that  the  government  of  Russia  would  construct  a  number 
of  large  monitors.  The  trip,  so  far  as  that  was  concerned, 
was  a  failure.  Commodore  Rodgers,  who  went  in  com- 
mand, was  formerly  in  command  of  one  of  the  original 
monitors  which  had  been  engaged  in  the  contests  before 
Charleston,  and  also  in  the  Savannah  sounds  in  the  Civil 
War,  and  he  was  one  of  the  strongest  of  the  captains  in 
favor  of  that  type.  As  a  rule,  the  captains  and  other 
officers  were  all  adverse  to  them. 

"  While  the  Navy  Department  and  Naval  Committee  of 
87 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Congress  were  favorable  to  the  monitor  type,  Messrs.  Len- 
thall  and  Isherwood  were  against  it;  but  they  were  very 
backward  in  doing  or  in  recommending  anything  else,  and 
permitted  themselves  to  be  overlooked.  In  view  of  this 
negligence  on  their  part,  it  was  argued  that  it  was  better 
to  try  to  do  something,  even  if  it  turned  out  wrong,  than 
to  do  nothing  at  all. 

ORIGIN  OF  FAST  CRUISERS. 
"  On  account  of  the  heavy  loss  of  our  ships  captured 
by  the  Confederate  cruisers,  and  our  failures  to  capture 
any  of  them  with  the  exception  of  the  '  Alabama/  which 
was  accidentally  discovered  and  destroyed  by  the  '  Kear- 
sarge,'  our  Navy  Department  conceived  it  necessary  to 
have  constructed  a  number  of  very  fast  cruisers,  faster 
than  any  known  afloat. 

"  The  Department  delegated  Messrs.  Stimers  and  Allen, 
when  in  the  height  of  their  power  in  their  '  Sub-Depart- 
ment' in  New  York,  to  design  and  have  them  constructed. 

"  Not  being  naval  architects,  and  not  having  any  naval 
architect  of  competent  knowledge  in  connection  with  their 
'  Sub-Department,'  but  having  an  exalted  idea  of  their 
own  abilities  not  only  as  naval  architects  and  engineers, 
and  everything  else  in  that  direction,  they  designed  some 
ships  of  a  peculiarly  fantastic  model,  and  engines  of 
equally  fanciful  character  which  they  called,  for  short, 
the  '  grasshopper  engine.' 

"  Having  the  power  to  design  these  vessels  and  contract 
for  them,  they  invited  me  to  inspect  the  plans  and  build 
two  of  them. 

"  On  looking  over  these  designs,  I  began  to  criticise 
them,  and  recommended  modifications. 

"  I  was  wound  up  suddenly  by  the  observation  that,  as 
they  intended  to  give  us  two  ships  and  give  us  what  they 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

considered  a  fair  price  for  them,  we  must  build  them 
exactly  as  they  were  designed. 

"As  the  price  they  offered  was  high,  and  feeling  that 
we  would  practically  have  our  own  way  with  them,  pro- 
vided we  adhered  to  the  general  type  of  design,  and 
having  no  responsibility,  we  thought  that  we  had  better 
take  them  and  make  a  handsome  sum  out  of  them  than 
to  stand  out  on  trifles  and  fight  for  glory  alone. 

"  I  had  commenced  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  with 
criticising  the  monitors,  and  our  concern  got  nothing,  and 
the  grass  might  have  been  growing  in  our  yard  if  we 
adhered  to  that  course.  So  the  price  was  fixed  for  these 
ships,  and  we  were  about  going  on,  when  the  fatal  con- 
tretemps of  the  launching  of  the  Boston  light-draught 
monitor  occurred.  The  '  fast  cruiser*  contracts  of  Stimers 
and  Allen  were  set  aside,  and  a  large  sum  of  money 
saved  to  the  government.  The  ring  was  broken.  They 
who  had  had  unlimited  power  heretofore  suddenly  found 
themselves  without  the  power  to  contract  for  a  dingy. 

"  This  was  really  a  great  disappointment  to  us  and 
several  other  contractors,  because  the  price  they  fixed  for 
the  cruisers  was  liberal,  and,  as  they  would  not  listen  to 
suggestions,  they  were  naturally  expected  to  take  the 
responsibility. 

"  After  the  matter  of  the  fast  cruisers  was  taken  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  '  Sub-Department  of  the  navy'  after 
the  sinking  of  the  Boston  monitor,  the  Navy  Department 
ordered  each  of  the  four  navy-yards  to  design  one  on  a 
scheme  of  general  dimensions,  and  giving  the  engines  out 
by  contract  to  the  various  engine-builders,  the  engines, 
with  two  exceptions,  being  designed  by  Mr.  Isherwood. 
The  machinery  for  the  '  Madawaska'  was  designed  by 
Ericsson ! 

"At  the  same  time,  to  encourage  private  enterprise, 
89 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 
/ 

one  was  given  to  us,  hull  and  machinery  of  our  own 
design.  We  awarded  the  engines  to  Merrick  &  Sons, 
who  built  them  on  their  own  designs.  All  of  these  vessels 
were  constructed  of  wood.  Our  ship  was  called  the 
'  Chattanooga,'  and  that  built  at  the  Philadelphia  Navy- 
Yard  was  called  the  '  Neshaminy.' 

"  The  engines  designed  by  Mr.  Isherwood  were  geared, 
the  propellers  making  two  and  one-half  revolutions  to 
the  engine's  one.  When  these  engines  were  designed, 
gearing  was  supposed  to  be  an  indispensable  necessity  in 
screw-engine  practice. 

fi  The  engines  designed  for  the  '  Madawaska'  by  Erics- 
son were  of  the  same  design  as  that  of  the  '  Dictator,' 
and  would  be  considered  of  fantastic  character  at  the 
present  time ;  that,  however,  might  be  said  of  most  marine 
engines  of  that  period. 

"  Much  was  expected  of  the  '  Madawaska's'  engines  by 
Mr.  Ericsson's  friends,  but  after  a  trial  of  twenty  min- 
utes it  was  stopped,  as  the  crank-pin  and  main-bearing 
brasses  ran  out  into  the  crank-pit  before  they  had  attained 
their  required  performance. 

n  The  engines  were  subsequently  taken  out  and  com- 
pound engines  of  poor  design  were  put  in  by  parties  who 
had  never  built  a  compound  engine  before.  The  per- 
formance of  these  engines  was  but  little  better  than  that 
of  the  original. 

"Having  been  eminently  successful  in  the  introduction 
of  compound  engines  in  this  country,  by  the  construction 
of  four  compound  engines  for  the  American  Line  and 
one  set  for  the  '  George  W.  Clyde'  of  our  own  design,  we 
made  application  to  the  government  to  substitute  the  de- 
sign of  compound  engines  in  place  of  the  first  set  of 
'Madawaska,'  but  our  offer  was  not  accepted,  unfor- 
tunately for  the  government. 

90 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

"  All  of  these  vessels  were  of  good  model,  and  all 
built  according  to  the  latest  improvements  of  the  great 
ship-builders  and  contractors,  and  the  devices  in  the  way 
of  rigging,  spars,  and  other  outfit,  besides  the  model  and 
general  arrangements  were  from  the  stand-point  and  de- 
signs of  the  naval  constructor  and  ship-builder  at  the 
yard  where  they  were  built.  No  ships  in  modern  times 
have  been  superior  to  them  in  design,  construction,  and 
ship-building  technique.  The  engines,  however,  were  not 
up  to  the  standard,  and,  no  matter  what  else  may  be  said 
of  them,  they  were  much  too  small. 

"  Some  time  after  these  vessels  were  laid  up,  an  effort 
was  made  by  private  parties  in  New  York  to  utilize  them 
in  a  trans- Atlantic  line  to  carry  the  mail,  and  a  proposi- 
tion was  made  to  the  government  covering  certain  condi- 
tions under  which  they  could  be  operated.  The  proposi- 
tion meeting  a  favorable  consideration,  an  exhaustive  ex- 
amination of  the  engines  was  made  by  Mr.  Norman 
Wheeler,  of  New  York.  He  found  that  the  gearing  of 
the  driving-wheels  and  pinion  had  been  worn  down  five- 
eighths  of  an  inch  during  their  trials;  the  project  was 
abandoned,  and  the  ships  gradually  disappeared. 

"  It  has  been  stated  that  the  '  Wampanoag*  made  her 
designed  speed  from  New  York  to  Charleston  in  one  trial. 

"  The  British  government  was  very  much  interested  in 
this  scheme  of  building  fast  cruisers  for  our  navy.  Cap- 
tain Bye-the-sea,  who  was  Naval  Attache  of  Great  Britain, 
was  ordered  to  investigate  the  matter  here.  He  decided 
to  obtain  the  plans  and  drawings  of  the  '  Chattanooga/ 
and  applied  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  for  his  approval. 
The  Secretary  sent  a  letter  to  us  stating  that,  so  far  as 
he  was  concerned,  he  had  no  objection.  So  we  furnished 
Captain  Bye-the-sea  with  the  drawings  of  the  '  Chatta- 
nooga' in  return  for  some  valuable  information  that  he 

91 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

had,  which  we  expected  to  utilize  in  some  construction  of 
our  Navy  Department.  We  did  not,  however,  realize  any- 
thing in  that  direction. 

"  The  '  Inconstant,'  built  by  the  British  government,  was 
practically  the  same  model  as  that  of  the  '  Chattanooga/ 
but  with  another  deck  added  to  her,  which  gave  her  an 
entirely  different  appearance,  and  which  made  her  look 
a  good  deal  heavier  above  the  water  than  the  '  Chatta- 
nooga' did,  particularly  as  far  as  the  stern  was  concerned. 

"  The  '  Wampanoag/  one  of  the  ships  built  at  one  of 
the  navy-yards,  made  what  was  designated  as  one  quick 
trip  from  New  York  to  Charleston;  but  in  doing  so  the 
teeth  of  the  gearing  were  worn  to  the  extent  of  five-eighths 
of  an  inch,  practically  ruining  her  usefulness  for  any 
future  service.  The  vessel  was  laid  up  and  never  sent  to 
sea  again. 

"  The  '  Chattanooga'  did  not  make  a  successful  trial. 
The  engines  were  too  small,  and  a  long  contest  between 
the  engine-builders  and  Mr.  Isherwood  occurred  over  the 
construction  of  the  machinery,  ending  in  the  engine- 
builders  making  modifications,  and  the  vessel  was  laid  up. 

"  As  these  ships  were  considered  at  that  time  too  ex- 
pensive to  equip  for  sea  service  in  time  of  peace,  they 
were  laid  up ;  being  wooden  and  very  much  neglected,  they 
rotted  at  their  wharves. 

"  The  failure  of  these  vessels  to  demonstrate  the  pro- 
priety of  building  fast  cruisers  was  due  altogether  to 
defective  machinery  and  to  defective  marine  engineering 
as  it  generally  existed  at  that  date  in  this  country,  and  to 
the  material  of  their  construction  being  of  wood. 

EVOLUTION   OF   MODERN    MARINE   ENGINE. 
"  At  that  time  a  large  majority  of  the  marine  engineers 
of  the  United  States  were  adherents  of  the  paddle-wheel, 

92 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

walking-beam  type  of  engine,  and  nothing  would  do  but 
that  type  of  engine.  That  was  particularly  the  case  in 
the  city  of  New  York. 

"  Philadelphia,  at  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of 
steam  propulsion,  advocated  the  propeller  engine,  and  as 
far  as  the  working  of  propeller  engine  was  concerned,  the 
degree  of  workmanship  and  skill  in  its  design  attained 
there  was  never  excelled  in  Europe  or  America.  These 
engines  were  generally  small  in  power,  and  the  prejudices 
of  the  people  were  against  them,  particularly  as  all  New 
York  ship-builders  and  marine  engineers  spoke  of  pro- 
peller engines  with  the  most  profound  contempt. 

"  Now  and  then  some  one  in  New  York  would  build  a 
propeller  engine  of  poor  design  which  would  prove  dis- 
astrous, so  in  large  enterprises  the  walking-beam,  side- 
wheel  type  of  engine  prevailed  and  was  the  fashion. 

"  This  was  done  to  such  a  great  extent  that  when  the 
first  line  of  steamships  was  established  between  Philadel- 
phia and  Charleston,  side-wheel  engines  were  put  in  them 
by  parties  who  had  a  great  deal  of  interest  with  the 
management  of  the  steamship  company. 

"  In  fact,  it  was  this  craze  for  the  walking-beam  engine 
and  side-wheels  in  New  York  which  ruined  us  as  a  steam- 
ship building  country,  and  was  one  of  the  many  causes 
for  the  supremacy  in  ocean  commerce  that  Great  Britain 
ultimately  attained. 

"After  the  government  had  stopped  the  subsidy,  the 
Collins  Line,  which  was  run  at  an  enormous  expense,  was 
withdrawn.  We  were  completely  out  of  the  business. 
The  influence  of  Philadelphia,  as  we  had  no  large  ships 
or  large  steamship  companies,  was  not  listened  to. 

"Rather  than  adopt  the  propeller  and  go  to  Philadel- 
phia to  have  the  engines  built,  steamship  owners  in  New 
York  permitted  the  whole  steamship  business,  together 

93 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

with  all  the  foreign  trade,  to  go  to  foreign  countries.  The 
British  began  early  to  establish  large  machine  shops  and 
to  perfect  the  propeller  engine.  Though  slow,  they  were 
sure. 

"  There  was  not  a  time  in  the  history  of  steam  naviga- 
tion that  we  did  not  feel  that  we  could  equal  or  even 
excel  the  English  builders  of  propeller  steamships  that 
were  coming  to  this  country.  But,  as  I  said  before,  we 
could  not  induce  the  New  York  merchants  to  embark  in 
the  enterprise. 

"  I  am  sure  that  if  we  had  abandoned  the  side-wheel 
and  commenced  with  the  propeller  at  the  time  the  British 
did  and  continued  with  steadfastness,  we  never  would  have 
lost  it. 

"  The  ships  of  this  country  were  right,  of  the  best  form 
and  model,  and  they  were  in  advance  of  anything  in 
Great  Britain,  as  far  as  hull  construction  and  design  were 
concerned ;  but,  while  the  ship-builders  in  New  York  were 
among  the  greatest  in  the  world,  the  builders  of  marine 
engines  there  were  the  poorest  in  the  world. 

"  When  it  was  discovered  that  the  propeller  steamship 
was  in  every  respect  the  best  and  had  come  to  stay,  it 
was  too  late  to  try  to  recover  our  trade. 

"  The  construction  of  monitors  and  machinery  during 
the  latter  end  of  the  war  was  very  demoralizing,  and  had 
its  effect  upon  naval  constructions  long  after  the  war 
was  over. 

"  The  Construction  Department,  which  had  not  shown 
much  enterprise  during  the  war,  had  become  very  much 
deteriorated,  and  the  system  was  inaugurated,  principally 
by  Mr.  Isherwood,  which  exists  at  the  present  day,  of 
dividing  the  executive  department  into  many  bureaus; 
and,  to  strengthen  their  heads  and  give  them  power,  it 
was  also  provided  that  the  appointment  of  these  heads 

94 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

of  bureaus  should  be  made  by  the  President  and  con- 
firmed by  the  Senate,  thus  making  the  Senate  a  coordinate 
factor  in  their  existence,  and  the  heads  of  bureaus  inde- 
pendent of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

"  This  was  started,  as  I  said  before,  by  Mr.  Isherwood, 
who  was  on  Mr.  Lenthall's  staff.  He  organized  the 
Bureau  of  Steam  Engineering  as  an  independent  bureau, 
not  subordinate  to  the  Secretary,  and  having  its  head 
appointed  by  the  President  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate. 
Of  course  he  was  made  its  Engineer-in-Chief." 

That  being  started,  other  bureaus  as  they 
practically  exist  at  present,  the  heads  of  which 
are  independent  of  the  Secretary,  were  estab- 
lished the  same  way.  A  great  deal  of  friction 
occurred  between  the  various  branches  of  the 
Navy  Department  at  that  time,  the  effects  of 
which  continued  for  a  good  while.  Nothing 
was  built  by  the  government,  although  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy  had  full  power  to  do  prac- 
tically as  he  pleased  with  the  appropriations. 
The  appropriations  in  Congress  at  that  time 
were  made  in  bulk,  and  the  Secretary  could 
give  vessels  out  by  private  contract  or  build 
them  in  the  navy-yards. 

Some  few  vessels  involving  antique  ideas 
were  started  in  the  navy-yards  and  were  prin- 
cipally of  wood.  The  engines  were  contracted 
for  by  the  various  engine-builders  of  the 
United  States.  They  were  constructed  prac- 
tically on  one  general  design. 

95 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

On  account  of  some  irregularities  and  mis- 
understandings in  the  way  of  giving  out  con- 
tracts and  certain  favoritisms,  together  with 
the  jealousies  and  bickerings  of  the  various 
heads  of  the  Departments  and  officers  of  the 
Navy,  Congress  became  more  and  more  exact- 
ing in  their  appropriations,  until  at  last  noth- 
ing was  done  in  the  Navy  Department  without 
a  special  appropriation  for  the  particular  pur- 
pose. 

At  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  in  1865,  a  large 
number  of  United  States  vessels  under  con- 
tract were  uncompleted.  In  some  cases,  notably 
of  the  monitor  type,  work  was  immediately 
suspended  upon  them,  and  settlements  were 
made  after  long  and  tedious  delays.  The 
Cramp  concern,  as  already  mentioned,  had  one 
vessel  in  hand  under  these  conditions,  the  first- 
class  fast  cruiser  "Chattanooga;"  but  the 
government  provided  for  her  completion, 
which  was  carried  out,  and  her  delivery  con- 
cluded the  relations  of  Mr.  Cramp  to  the  navy 
of  the  Civil  War. 


96 


CHAPTEE   III 

Foreign  Commerce  in  1865 — The  "  Clyde"  and  "  George 
W.  Clyde,"  and  Introduction  of  Compound  Engines 
— Commerce  of  1870 — Merchant  Marine — Lynch  Com- 
mittee— Mr.  Cramp  and  Committee — Lynch  Bill — 
American  Steamship  Company — Visit  to  British 
Shipyards  —  John  Elder  —  British  Methods  —  Inter- 
change of  Methods — Merchant  Marine  continued — 
Dingley  Bill  —  Defects  —  Act  of  1891,  Providing 
Registry  for  Foreign  Ships— "  St.  Louis"  and  "St. 
Paul" — Extract  from  Forum, — Remarks  on  Article — 
Committee  of  Ship-builders  and  Owners — New  Bill 
Introduced  by  Frye  and  Dingley — North  Atlantic 
Traffic  Association — New  Ship-yards — Tactics  of 
North  Atlantic  Traffic  Association — Our  Navigation 
Laws,  North  American  Review — Mr.  Whitney — Un- 
friendly Legislation — Mr.  Whitney's  Letter — Effects 
of  Letter — Mr.  Cramp's  Letter  to  Committee  of  Mer- 
chant Marine — International  Mercantile  Marine. 

THE  return  of  peace  in  1865  found  the  coun- 
try without  sea-commerce  either  coastwise  or 
foreign.  Such  ships  as  had  not  been  taken 
up  by  the  government  had,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  whaling-vessels  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
been  transferred  to  foreign  flags  to  save  them 
from  the  ravages  of  Confederate  pirates  or 
cruisers  which,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
so  far  as  construction,  armament,  equipment, 

97  7 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

and  crews  were  concerned,  were  nothing  but 
British  privateers  in  disguise.  In  the  mean 
time  England  had  taken  every  advantage  of 
the  situation,  and  by  1865  had  practically  ab- 
sorbed all  the  magnificent  ocean-carrying  trade 
which  the  United  States  enjoyed  prior  to  1860. 
American  ship-building  was  at  a  stand-still. 
The  government  at  once  threw  upon  the  mar- 
ket all  the  ships  which  it  had  taken  up  for 
gun-boats,  auxiliary  cruisers,  transports,  etc., 
during  the  war.  They  were  sold  for  anything 
that  they  would  bring,  and  they  were  bought 
up  as  a  speculation  by  new  companies  un- 
familiar with  the  shipping  business,  and  as  a 
consequence  they  all  failed.  The  ships  were 
obsolete  or  worn  out  and  soon  passed  out  of 
existence.  Certain  coastwise  lines  continued 
to  do  a  small  business,  but  little  or  no  attempt 
was  made  to  restore  our  foreign  trade;  first, 
because  none  of  the  vessels  which  the  govern- 
ment threw  on  the  market  were  in  a  condition 
to  undertake  it ;  and,  second,  because,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  inflated  prices  of  everything, 
any  attempt  to  compete  either  in  seafaring 
labor  or  material  with  England  would  have 
been  absurd.  Besides  this,  the  whole  energy 
and  capital  of  the  country  were  immediately 
directed  to  an  extraordinary  expansion  of  rail- 
way systems,  so  that  the  attention  of  the  peo- 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

pie  was  entirely  diverted  from  the  sea  and 
fixed  upon  the  interior.  For  the  next  five  or 
six  years  little  or  no  ship-building  of  any  de- 
scription was  done  anywhere  in  the  United 
States. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Cramp  Company 
considered  it  indispensable  to  attach  engine 
building  to  the  construction  of  hulls,  as  no 
satisfactory  arrangement  could  be  made  to 
secure  accurate  performance  that  involved  two 
independent  and  diverse  handicrafts  in  the 
undertaking.  They  secured  the  services  as  en- 
gineer of  Mr.  J.  Shields  Wilson,  whose  train- 
ing in  the  I.  P.  Morris  Company,  and  at  Neafie 
&  Levy's  works  had  demonstrated  his  fitness 
for  the  post,  and  as  to  whose  methods  they 
were  familiar. 

One  of  the  first  achievements  of  the  new 
enterprise  was  the  design  and  construction  of 
the  compound  engines  for  the  "George  W. 
Clyde,"  finished  in  the  spring  of  1872,  the 
first  present  accepted  type  of  compound  ma- 
rine engines  built  in  America.  Immediately 
following  them  in  1873  and  1874  were  the  four 
ships  for  the  American  Line,  the  "Pennsyl- 
vania," "Ohio,"  "Indiana,"  and  "Illinois." 

The  "George  W.  Clyde"  was  built  for 
Thomas  Clyde,  who  was  the  first  ship-owner 

to  introduce  screw  propulsion  in  ocean  com- 

99 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

merce  in  the  United  States  by  building  the 
twin-screw  steamship,  the  "John  S.  McKim," 
built  in  1844,  which  he  used  in  the  trade  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  and  as  a  transport  when  the 
war  with  Mexico  occurred. 

Having  built  the  first  screw  steamship,  the 
"John  S.  McKim,"  and  the  first  steamship 
with  compound  engines,  the  "George  W. 
Clyde,"  Mr.  Clyde  responded  with  alacrity 
to  the  recommendations  of  Mr.  Cramp  in 
favor  of  the  use  of  the  triple-expansion  en- 
gines by  building  the  "Cherokee." 

The  "Mascott"  for  Mr.  Plant  was  built  at 
the  same  time. 

Mr.  Clyde  had  formed  the  acquaintance  of 
Mr.  Ericsson  soon  after  his  arrival  in  this 
country  in  1839,  just  before  the  ' '  John  S.  Mc- 
Kim" was  constructed,  and  became  an  early 
convert  to  his  fascinations  in  exploiting  the 
superior  merits  of  screw  propulsions  over 
every  other. 

The  "John  S.  McKim"  and  engines  were 
designed  by  Mr.  Ericsson,  and  built  near  Front 
and  Brown  Streets,  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Jacob  Neafie,  of  Eeaney,  Neafie  &  Co., 
celebrated  engine  builders,  who  began  business 
soon  after  by  constructing  propeller  engines, 
had  considerable  practical  experience  in  the 
construction  of  the  "John  S.  McKim V  en- 

100 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

gines  before  Beaney,  Neafie  &  Co.  had  started 
business. 

Mr.  Ericsson  had  early  secured  the  friend- 
ship of  Commodore  Stockton,  and  had  a  boat 
built  for  towing  purposes  by  the  celebrated 
ship-builders  Lairds,  of  Berkenhead,  called 
the  "B.  F.  Stockton."  Commodore  Stockton 
had  been  already  biased  in  favor  of  screw 
propulsion  on  account  of  the  invention  of  the 
screw  propeller  as  it  practically  exists  to-day 
by  John  Stevens  in  1803.  Mr.  Stevens  was  the 
head  and  front  of  the  organization  of  the  bay, 
river,  and  canal  navigation  between  the  two 
great  cities  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  of 
which  Commodore  Stockton  was  a  member. 

The  successful  introduction  of  screw  pro- 
pulsion in  the  United  States  was  certainly 
owing  to  the  combined  efforts  of  Stevens, 
Ericsson,  and  Clyde. 

Mr.  Clyde  was  always  to  the  front  where 
new  improvements  were  to  be  made. 

The  Cramp  Company,  having  taken  the  lead 
in  these  new  departures  in  engine  construction 
at  the  beginning,  have  continued  to  remain 
there.  They  have  ceased  to  construct  wooden 
vessels,  sail  or  steam,  since  the  construction 
of  the  ' '  Clyde, ' '  of  iron.  This  vessel  was  for 
Mr.  Thomas  Clyde,  and  preceded  the  "  G.  W. 
Clyde." 

101 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

By  1870  the  deplorable  state  of  the  Ameri- 
can merchant  marine  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  Administration  and  Congress.  The 
House  of  Eepresentatives  organized  a  select 
committee  to  investigate  the  causes  of  its  de- 
cline, with  instructions  to  submit  in  its  report 
suggestion  or  recommendation  of  remedy. 
This  is  known  in  Congressional  history  as  the 
"  Lynch  Committee,"  from  its  Chairman,  the 
Honorable  John  R.  Lynch,  Member  of  Con- 
gress, of  Maine.  This  committee  surveyed  the 
situation  exhaustively,  taking  the  statements 
of  a  large  number  of  ship-owners  and  ship- 
builders, and  while  there  was  considerable  di- 
vergence of  views  as  to  the  sum-total  of  causes, 
there  was  little  or  no  diversity  of  opinion  as 
to  the  most  immediate  and  effective  remedy. 

This  committee,  after  thorough  investiga- 
tion and  mature  deliberation,  reported  that,  in 
view  of  the  policy  of  foreign  maritime  nations, 
particularly  Great  Britain,  in  the  way  of  subsi- 
dies and  other  methods  of  aiding  and  pro- 
moting their  merchant  marines,  it  would  be 
impossible  for  American  ship-owners  to  com- 
pete with  them  in  the  absence  of  similar  ex- 
pedients on  the  part  of  our  own  government. 
In  other  words,  the  Lynch  Committee  reported 
in  effect  that  the  primary  requisite  toward  a 
resurrection  of  the  American  merchant  marine 

102 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

would  be  the  adoption  of  a  policy  of  subven- 
tion, or,  as  it  is  commonly  termed,  subsidy. 

However,  while  the  Lynch  Committee  was 
logical  in  its  suggestion  or  recommendation  of 
remedy,  its  investigations,  so  far  as  the  sum- 
total  of  the  causes  of  decline  were  concerned, 
and  its  estimate  of  those  causes  were  incom- 
plete and  inconclusive,  because  it  started  out 
with  the  dogma  that  the  then  existing  depres- 
sion of  the  merchant  marine  was  due  wholly 
to  the  ravages  of  the  war ;  and  it  did  not  take 
into  account  the  correlative  or  co-operative 
facts  of  the  situation,  which  were  much  broader 
and  deeper  in  their  application  and  effect  than 
the  mere  suspension  or  destruction  of  our 
merchant  marine  by  the  war  itself.  In  other 
words,  the  Lynch  Committee  failed  to  grasp  or 
appreciate  the  fact  that,  while  the  war  was 
wrecking  our  sea-going  commerce,  foreign 
maritime  powers,  and  particularly  the  Eng- 
lish, were  making  the  most  gigantic  efforts  not 
only  to  take  the  place  of  our  ruined  trade,  but 
also  to  provide  for  a  perpetuity  of  the  substitu- 
tion, so  that  at  any  time  between  the  close  of 
the  war  and  the  investigations  of  the  Lynch 
Committee  it  had  become  impossible  for  an 
American  ship-owner  to  operate  a  ship  or  a 
line  of  ships  in  any  route  of  ocean  traffic.  By 
means  of  liberal  subsidies  under  the  guise  of 

103 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

mail  pay,  the  British  had  in  the  interim  cov- 
ered every  sea-road  and  appropriated  every 
channel  of  ocean  commerce.  This  fact  the 
Lynch  Committee  seems  to  have  ignored,  al- 
though it  was  really  the  prime  factor  in  the 
situation,  as  it  stood  in  1870.  Mr.  Cramp,  in 
his  statement  before  the  Lynch  Committee, 
went  altogether  out  of  the  beaten  path  pursued 
by  most  of  the  other  ship-builders  or  ship- 
owners who  appeared.  He  said  in  effect  that 
while  the  Civil  War  had  been  an  immediate 
cause  of  the  destruction  of  our  merchant  ma- 
rine as  it  existed  at  the  beginning  of  that 
struggle,  still  that  was  purely  a  physical  cause, 
and  in  the  absence  of  other  causes  need  not 
operate  after  the  war  ended. 

He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  war 
had  now  been  ended  five  years,  but  that  the 
condition  of  our  merchant  marine,  particularly 
in  foreign  trade,  remained  as  pitiable  as  it  had 
been  in  the  height  of  the  struggle.  This  he 
said  argued  the  existence  of  other  and  more 
lasting  causes  than  the  simple  destruction  by 
war,  whether  by  the  government  taking  up  our 
merchant-ships  for  its  own  use,  or  by  the 
transfer  of  a  great  many  of  them  to  foreign 
flags  to  get  the  benefit  of  neutrality,  or  by 
the  actual  depredations  of  Anglo-Confederate 
privateers. 

104 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

He  explained  that  during  our  misfortune  the 
English  took  every  advantage  in  the  way  of 
appropriating  to  themselves  and  to  their  own 
ships  the  traffic  which  our  ships  had  formerly 
carried;  that  when  the  war  closed,  they  had 
absolute  command  of  the  ocean-carrying  trade, 
our  own  as  well  as  theirs. 

He  said  that  not  only  did  the  British  gov- 
ernment subsidize  and  otherwise  aid  their 
ships  and  ship-owners,  but  that  they  also 
brought  to  bear  all  the  tremendous  resources 
of  their  navy  to  help  and  encourage  British 
ship-builders.  Notwithstanding  her  enormous 
and  well-equipped  public  dock-yards,  the  Eng- 
lish government  built  a  very  large  percentage 
of  its  hull  construction  in  private  shipyards, 
and  not  only  that,  but  all  their  marine-engine 
work  was  let  out  by  contract  to  private  engine- 
builders,  mainly  independent  establishments. 

He  stated  that  the  result  of  this  policy  had 
been  to  develop  the  industry  of  marine  engine 
building  in  Great  Britain  to  a  degree  unknown 
anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

On  the  contrary,  our  own  government  had 
done  little  for  its  navy  since  the  war,  and  what 
little  it  had  done  had  been  carried  out  entirely 
in  navy-yards. 

This  not  only  deprived  private  ship-building 
of  the  kind  of  aid  and  encouragement  which 

105 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

England  lavished  upon  her  private  shipyards 
and  engine-shops,  but  the  navy-yards  them- 
selves were  a  constant  menace  to  the  good 
order  and  content  of  mechanics  working  in 
private  shipyards. 

Moreover,  he  said  that  the  same  class  of 
mechanics  who,  immediately  prior  to  the  war, 
worked  for  $1.75  a  day,  now  (1870)  demanded 
and  received  $3.00  to  $3.50  a  day;  whereas 
ship-building  wages  remained  the  same  in  Eng- 
land as  in  1860. 

He  warned  the  committee  that  the  day  of 
wooden  ships,  particularly  steamships,  was 
past,  and  that  the  iron  ship  had  come  to  stay, 
not  only  in  England  but  everywhere  else  in  the 
world. 

He  said  that  to  enable  the  business  of  build- 
ing iron  ships  and  heavy  marine  machinery  to 
become  firmly  established  in  this  country,  a 
very  large  amount  of  manufacturing  ma- 
chinery must  be  supplied,  and  in  view  of  the 
present  outlook  no  one  would  invest  any  con- 
siderable amount  of  capital  in  that  direction 
without  assurance  of  some  aid  and  encourage- 
ment from  the  government  similar  to  that 
which  England  rendered  to  her  ship-building 
industry. 

He  then  dwelt  at  considerable  length  upon 
the  demoralization  among  mechanics  produced 

106 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

by  the  government's  policy  in  confining  its 
naval  construction  to  the  navy-yards. 

He  reviewed  briefly  the  struggle  between  the 
Cunard  and  Collins  Lines  prior  to  1858,  and 
showed  conclusively  that  the  downfall  of  the 
American  Collins  Line  was  due  to  the  per- 
sistent and  constantly  increasing  subsidies 
lavished  by  the  British  government  upon  the 
Cunard  Line,  which  our  government  in  1858 
met  by  withdrawing  the  Collins  subsidy  and 
giving  them  instead  the  sea  and  inland  postage 
on  mail  matter  actually  carried.  In  this  re- 
spect he  said  Congress  indirectly  came  to  the 
aid  of  the  Cunard  Line  and  helped  it  to  over- 
throw the  Collins  Line.  He  hoped  that  the 
committee  would  give  these  particular  facts 
their  earnest  attention.  He  said  that  they  did 
not  require  deep  or  intricate  investigation,  be- 
cause they  were  matters  of  common  notoriety, 
known  to  everybody  who  was  at  all  conversant 
with  the  commercial  history  of  the  country. 

The  admission  of  material  for  building  iron 
ships  free  of  duty,  he  said,  would  be  an  ad- 
vantage, of  course,  and  many  believed  that  if 
our  ship-builders  could  be  relieved  from  the 
tariff  and  get  their  material  free  they  could 
compete  successfully  with  foreign  builders; 
but  the  difference  in  wages  was  too  great  to 
be  entirely  overcome  by  the  mere  admission 

107 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

of  materials  duty  free.  As  for  materials,  he 
would  always  prefer  American  iron  for  the 
construction  of  ships  to  foreign  iron,  provided 
it  could  be  got  at  the  same,  or  very  nearly  the 
same,  price.  There  were  many  inconveniences, . 
he  said,  attendant  upon  sending  abroad  for 
iron  plates.  He  informed  the  committee  that 
it  was  necessary  to  get  the  form  of  every  plate 
and  have  it  sketched  before  it  was  ordered, 
and  if,  after  doing  that,  we  must  send  abroad 
to  have  them  made,  very  great  inconvenience 
and  delay  would  result. 

This  statement  of  Mr.  Cramp  before  the 
Lynch  Committee,  of  which  the  foregoing  is 
only  a  synopsis,  was  really  the  key-note  to  all 
subsequent  argument  in  favor  of  government 
aid  to  American  ship-building  and  ship-own- 
ing. It  presented  the  matter  in  a  new  light,  or 
a  light  which  was  new  in  1870. 

It  might  be  remarked  here,  in  referring  to 
his  statement  that  "the  form  of  every  plate 
must  be  sketched  before  it  is  ordered,  etc.," 
that  Mr.  Cramp  himself  was  the  originator  of 
that  system  in  this  country,  a  system  of  order- 
ing plates  sheared  to  sizes  at  the  mill.  (See 
"American  Marine,"  W.  W.  Bates.)  Until  he 
established  this  innovation,  plates  for  building 
iron  vessels  had  been  rolled  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible to  the  sizes  required  and  then  sheared 

108 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

and  trimmed  at  the  shipyard.  This  itself  was 
a  very  remarkable  and  striking  innovation,  and 
was  immediately  taken  up  by  all  iron  ship- 
builders in  the  country,  and  is  now  the  uni- 
versal practice. 

The  legislative  result  of  the  first  effort  of 
Congress  to  take  cognizance  of  the  condition 
of  the  merchant  marine  was  the  bill  intro- 
duced by  Mr.  Lynch,  February  17, 1870. 

Mr.  Lynch 's  bill,  although  it  may  be  de- 
scribed as  the  pioneer  effort  for  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  American  merchant  marine,  pro- 
posed in  concise  form  and  plain,  easily  com- 
prehensible terms,  without  any  unnecessary 
verbiage  or  circumlocution,  as  practical  and 
as  sensible  a  system  of  subvention  as  has  ever 
been  put  forward  since.  It  was  comprehensive 
in  its  scope,  universal  in  its  application,  and 
liberal  in  its  provisions.  Later  bills,  more 
elaborately  framed  and  more  diffuse  in  their 
verbiage,  have  hardly  improved  upon  the  sim- 
ple matter  of  fact  form  in  which  Mr.  Lynch 
embodied  his  proposed  policy. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  a  Parliamentary 
war  between  American  ship-owners  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  influence  of  foreign  steamship 
companies  on  the  other;  a  war  which  has  at 
this  writing  lasted  more  than  thirty  years: 

One  subsidy  was  granted  by  Congress  at  this 
109 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

early  date,  that  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship 
Company ;  but  hardly  had  that  subsidy  begun 
to  operate,  when  an  exposure  of  certain  meth- 
ods by  which  it  was  procured  brought  about  a 
great  public  scandal,  which  for  the  time-being 
put  a  peremptory  end  to  the  whole  policy. 

Whether  the  charge  that  the  Pacific  Mail 
subsidy  was  obtained  by  corrupt  methods  was 
true  or  not,  the  means  in  obtaining  it  were 
no  more  corrupt  than  those  which  have  been 
employed  by  foreign  steamship  interests  to 
defeat  legislation  in  Congress  favorable  to 
American  shipping  from  time  to  time  ever 
since. 

Notwithstanding  these  discouraging  condi- 
tions, a  group  of  Pennsylvania  capitalists 
formed  "the  American  Steamship  Company," 
and  decided  in  1871  to  try  the  experiment  of 
an  American  Line  to  Liverpool.  They  con- 
tracted with  the  Cramp  firm  for  four  first- 
class  steamships,  to  be  superior  in  sea  speed, 
comfort,  and  other  desirable  qualities  to  any 
foreign  steamship  then  in  service.  These  four 
ships  were  designed  by  Mr.  Cramp,  and  built 
under  his  superintendence  between  1871  and 
1873  inclusive,  and  were  put  in  service  under 
the  names  of  the  "Indiana,"  "Illinois," 
"Pennsylvania,"  and  "Ohio,"  now  commonly 
known  'as  the  old  American  Line.  That  these 

110 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

ships  were  designed  with  the  highest  degree 
of  ability  and  constructed  with  the  utmost  skill 
is  sufficiently  attested  by  the  fact  that  they 
are  all  in  serviceable  condition  at  this  writing 
(1903),  over  thirty  years  old.  These  ships 
broke  the  record  in  speed  which  was  held  by 
the  "City  of  Brussels,"  and  consumed  less 
than  half  of  the  coal  in  doing  it. 

As  soon  as  the  construction  of  these  ships 
had  been  awarded  to  his  Company,  Mr.  Cramp 
determined  to  examine  the  conditions  of  ma- 
rine-engine development  abroad,  and  with  that 
object  in  view  sailed  immediately  for  Europe. 
His  narrative  of  the  trip  and  its  results  are  as 
follows : 

VISIT   TO   BRITISH   SHIPYARDS. 

"  When  the  organization  of  the  Company  was  perfected, 
the  compound  engine  as  developed  by  John  Elder  had 
made  its  appearance,  and  a  fierce  opposition  to  its  intro- 
duction was  made  by  engine-builders  in  Great  Britain 
generally. 

"  Its  advocates  were  among  the  ablest  engineers  in  that 
country,  foremost  among  whom  was  Mr.  MacFarland 
Gray,  whose  unassailable  attitude  in  its  favor  in  the 
columns  of  '  Engineering'  vindicated  its  claims  and 
successfully  established  its  introduction.  While  the  idea 
was  an  old  one  and  had  been  introduced  before  Watt's 
time,  it  failed,  as  most  improvements  do  when  they  do 
not  get  into  proper  hands  to  be  developed. 

"  To  John  Elder  belongs  the  credit  of  its  permanent 
111 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

and  practical  introduction  into  ocean  navigation,  and  but 
little  improvement  has  been  made  in  his  work  up  to  this 
time. 

"  Mr.  B.  H.  Bartol,  who  occupied  a  high  position  for 
intelligence  and  sagacity  in  the  business  world  and  as  a 
practical  marine  engineer  of  the  highest  attainments,  was 
one  of  the  directors  of  the  new  steamship  company,  and, 
desiring  that  the  ships  should  be  in  advance  of  the  times, 
he  recommended  that  I  should  go  to  Great  Britain  and 
make  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  compound-engine 
question. 

"  Mr.  J.  Shields  Wilson,  who  had  been  selected  by  me 
as  the  engineer  of  our  Company,  which  had  recently  added 
engine  building  as  a  department  of  its  business,  accom- 
panied me.  Mr.  Wilson  had  already  gone  very  deep  into 
the  investigation  of  the  compound  question,  and  had 
acquired  a  strong  bias  in  its  favor;  and  he  had  already 
designed  the  compound  engines  for  the  '  George  W.  Clyde.' 

"  Mr.  Bartol  recommended  the  steamship  company  to 
appropriate  $10,000  to  pay  our  expenses  in  the  investi- 
gation, arguing  that  the  money  could  not  be  spent  in  a 
better  way,  and  that  they  could  not  get  another  party 
better  equipped  than  we  were  to  undertake  it.  He  also 
stated  that  he  would  oppose  the  construction  of  any 
steamers  until  he  became  convinced  that  they  would  be 
of  the  most  advanced  type  in  everything  that  pertains  to 
most  modern  requirements. 

"  The  money  was  promptly  appropriated,  and  with  Mr. 
Wilson  I  took  passage  in  the  '  Italy,'  the  first  trans- 
Atlantic  steamer  with  compound  engines  of  John  Elder's 
make  and  type,  whose  reported  performance  in  economical 
coal  consumption  was  considered  at  that  time  marvellous. 

"  We  soon  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  chief  engineer 
of  the  ship,  whose  name  also  was  Wilson,  and  Mr.  Wilson 

112 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

practically  lived  with  him.  He  was  permitted  to  take 
cards  under  varying  conditions,  and  secured  an  accurate 
account  of  coal  consumption  and  of  all  other  matters 
likely  to  be  of  interest. 

"  When  we  arrived  at  Liverpool,  we  visited  the  Lairds', 
being  the  first  English  shipyard  that  either  of  us  had  ever 
visited. 

"  We  then  visited  every  great  marine  engine  and  ship- 
building works  on  the  Thames  and  Clyde,  beginning  with 
the  Thames,  whose  shipyards  at  that  time  stood  higher 
in  the  art  of  ship-building  and  in  the  proficiency  of 
marine-engine  construction  than  the  Clyde  shipyards. 
When  we  started  on  our  tour  we  determined  to  adhere  to 
a  fixed  policy  and  procedure  wherever  we  went,  which  was 
to  frankly  praise  whatever  we  thought  deserving  of  it  and 
to  adversely  criticise  whatever  we  thought  deserved  such 
criticism;  and  particularly  to  make  no  secret  of  the  prin- 
cipal object  of  our  visit. 

11  Our  Company  was  practically  unknown  then  in  Great 
Britain,  and  steamship  building  was  supposed  to  be  an 
unknown  art  in  America;  but  we  were  received  with  much 
cordiality  and  frankness,  probably  from  mere  curiosity, 
if  nothing  else. 

"  Fortunately  for  us,  we  visited  the  works  of  Mr. 
Zamuda  first,  where  a  capable  engineer  was  delegated  to 
show  us  around.  It  having  been  noticed  that  we  had  regis- 
tered our  names,  one  as  ship-builder  and  constructor  and 
the  other  as  marine  engineer,  the  Superintendent  was 
anxious  to  have  our  dimensions  taken.  There  was  no  time 
wasted,  and  our  questions  and  remarks  covering  every- 
thing in  sight  or  in  the  field  of  ship-building  methods 
were  showered  on  him  in  a  deluge.  He  had  expected  to 
get  through  with  us  in  a  very  short  time,  thinking  that  a 
sort  of  perfunctory  visit  'in  one  door  and  out  at  the 
8  113 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

opposite'  would  be  sufficient;  but  finding  that  he  had  been 
mistaken,  he  sent  a  boy  out  with  a  note  and  soon  received 
an  answer.  We  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  morning 
there.  When  it  became  noon,  he  explained  that  he  had 
sent  a  note  out  to  Mr.  Zamuda,  stating  that  we  were  well 
up  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  business,  etc.  Mr. 
Zamuda's  reply  was  to  send  us  in  to  him  when  we  were 
through.  He  received  us  with  much  consideration  and 
politeness,  invited  us  to  take  luncheon  with  him,  and 
devoted  much  time  to  questions  as  to  wages  of  workmen, 
materials,  and  where  they  were  secured,  prices,  character 
of  output,  etc. 

"  When  he  found  that  we  were  doing  considerable  in 
the  way  of  iron  ship-building,  principally  coastwise,  he 
was  much  astonished  to  know  that  most  of  the  workmen 
as  well  as  Mr.  Wilson  and  myself  were  native  to  the  soil, 
and  he  had  much  to  say  on  the  subject. 

"When  he  had  finished  with  us,  and  after  we  had 
informed  him  of  the  purpose  of  our  visit  and  that  we 
wanted  to  see  the  principal  shipyards  in  the  country,  he 
stated  that  he  would  facilitate  our  purpose  by  giving  us 
letters  to  the  Superintendents  of  the  principal  places ;  ex- 
plaining that  they  would  take  time  to  show  us  what  was 
worth  seeing,  while,  if  we  went  to  the  office,  we  would 
only  be  hurried  through  in  a  careless  manner. 

"It  was  due  to  this  act  of  kindness  on  his  part  that 
our  visits  afterward  were  so  successful  in  the  acquisition 
of  valuable  information,  and  as  to  the  generous  hospitali- 
ties that  we  received.  We  visited  first  the  Thames  Iron 
Works,  John  Penn  &  Sons,  Mandsleys,  and  others. 
From  the  Thames  we  went  direct  to  the  Clyde,  where  we 
visited  the  Thompsons,  the  Lairds,  Tod  and  McGregor, 
John  Inglis,  Elders,  and  some  others. 

"  The  consensus  of  opinion  of  the  different  shipyards  on 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  subject  of  compound  engines  was,  as  a  rule,  unfavor- 
able. We  found  that  the  opposition  was  principally  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  change  from  the  old  type  to  the  new 
involved  important  and  radical  modifications  in  the  con- 
structions of  boilers  and  of  engines,  so  they  hesitated  to 
discard  their  old  plans,  patterns,  and  methods,  the  value 
of  which  they  were  sure  of,  and  to  grope  into  an  unknown 
field  of  augmented  costliness. 

"  Of  course,  these  arguments  to  us  were  not  convincing, 
and  as  we  advanced  to  the  north  we  found  ourselves  quite 
biassed  in  favor  of  the  new  type.  Whatever  doubts  we 
may  have  had  up  to  the  time  of  our  arrival  at  the  Fair- 
field  Works,  they  were  forever  removed  when  we  visited 
their  magnificent  erecting  shop.  We  saw  there  thirteen 
compound  engines  in  various  states  of  completion,  with 
their  various  parts  ready  for  assembling,  some  about 
ready  for  installation  in  the  ship,  the  whole  exhibiting 
everything  in  the  way  of  finish  and  arrangement  both  in 
their  various  parts  and  in  the  whole  erection.  Up  to  this 
time  we  had  encountered  engines  of  the  oscillating  type, 
the  trunk,  the  plain  vertical,  and  horizontal  in  every  vary- 
ing form  and  construction.  It  was  the  same  old  story, — 
an  old  one  before  we  left  home;  and  now,  without  any 
preparation  whatever  for  it,  this  vision  of  thirteen  actuali- 
ties of  the  new  departure  burst  upon  our  view.  We  spent 
the  entire  day  there,  the  Superintendent  affording  us 
every  opportunity  to  examine  the  parts  and  discuss  the 
subject.  We  found  as  much  novelty  in  the  boiler  con- 
struction as  in  the  engine. 

"An  old  Philadelphia  boiler  had  made  its  appearance 
here  as  'the  Scotch  Boiler7;  this  differed  from  the  old 
one  only  in  the  thickness  of  the  plates,  due  to  the 
necessities  of  the  use  of  higher  steam. 

"After  this  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen,  and  we 
115 


MEMOIRS  OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

hastened  home,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  Elder  type 
of  compound  engines  was  under  construction  for  our  new 
ships  practically  before  any  of  the  various  shipyards  in 
Great  Britain  other  than  John  Elders'  took  hold  of  them. 

"  To  John  Elder  belongs  the  entire  credit  of  intro- 
ducing and  perfecting  the  compound  engine,  and  there 
has  been  but  little  improvement  in  his  work  up  to  this 
time.  MacFarland  Gray  at  that  time  was  a  persistent 
advocate  of  this  engine,  and  his  work  on  '  Engineering* 
was  of  great  value.  He  took  especial  pains  to  aid  us  in 
our  investigations. 

"  This  trip  was  a  most  useful  one  besides  the  investiga- 
tion of  compound  engines;  it  gave  us  an  opportunity  of 
examining  every  method  pertaining  to  hull  construction 
and  equipment  there,  and  to  discuss  all  of  the  problems 
and  methods  belonging  to  it. 

"  Two  great  changes  in  mechanical  method  and  practice 
in  certain  details  of  engine  building  took  place  in  Great 
Britain  as  a  result  of  our  visit,  and  the  arrival  of  the 
'  Pennsylvania,'  the  first  of  the  American  Line ;  although 
we  took  no  active  measures  in  that  direction. 

"We  found  during  this  trip  that  the  art  of  flanging 
boiler-plates  in  Great  Britain  was  entirely  unknown,  and 
that  all  British  boiler-heads  were  secured  to  the  side 
plates  and  to  the  furnace  ends  by  means  of  angle  bars  in 
the  corners,  a  crude  and  primitive  method  of  construction. 
It  was  impossible  for  us  to  understand  this  backward- 
ness or  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  British,  as  the 
flanging  of  boiler-heads  had  always  prevailed  here. 

"  We  called  the  attention  of  the  British  builders  generally 
to  this  superiority  in  boiler  construction,  but  little  or  no 
attention  was  paid  to  what  we  said  at  that  time;  but 
when  the  four  ships  of  the  new  line  arrived  in  Liverpool, 
draughtsmen  from  all  quarters  were  sent  to  make  sketches 

116 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

of  the  boiler  work,  and  of  many  other  devices  new  to 
them,  besides  the  boiler  construction,  one  of  which  was 
the  use  of  white  metal  in  bearings  and  journals.  This 
feature  in  the  engine  construction  the  British  had  not 
taken  up  when  we  visited  their  works. 

"We  can  claim  to  have  introduced  boiler  flanging  and 
the  use  of  white  metal  in  British  ship  construction  on 
account  of  our  recommendations,  and  the  practical  illus- 
tration of  their  utility  on  the  arrival  of  the  ships  of  the 
American  Line. 

"  The  builders  there,  however,  were  very  slow  in  the 
general  adoption  of  these  methods.  At  first  boiler-heads 
were  delivered  at  engine-works  flanged  by  the  mills  that 
made  the  plates,  and  Sampson  Fox  added  boiler  flanging 
to  his  business  of  making  corrugated  furnaces.  Having 
seen  a  boiler  furnished  with  corrugated  furnaces  by  Samp- 
son Fox  in  England,  I  introduced  them  in  two  yachts  built 
for  George  Osgood  and  Charles  Osbourne,  the  first  fur- 
naces of  the  kind  in  America.  These  yachts  were  known 
as  the  '  Corsair*  and  the  '  Stranger.'  " 

The  construction  of  the  four  pioneer  ships 
went  on  as  it  had  begun,  without  promise  of 
aid  from  the  government,  which  steadily  main- 
tained its  attitude  of  neglect  as  to  the  national 
merchant  marine,  while  hundreds  upon  hun- 
dreds of  millions  in  the  shape  of  guarantee 
bonds  and  public  land  grants  were  poured  out 
by  the  Congress  in  favor  of  western  railroads, 
but  not  one  dollar  for  the  merchant  marine. 

Still,  notwithstanding  these  discouraging 
conditions,  Mr.  Cramp  did  not  abate  in  the 

117 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

slightest  degree  his  endeavors  to  keep  the  needs 
of  the  country  in  the  direction  of  a  national 
merchant  marine  before  Congress  and  the  pub- 
lic. A  compilation  of  the  articles  he  published 
and  of  his  statements  before  the  committees 
of  both  Houses  of  Congress  would,  on  the 
whole,  fill  several  volumes  like  this  one.  It  is 
therefore  impracticable  to  reproduce  here  the 
actual  text  of  his  arguments  and  his  exposi- 
tions. 

Newspaper  organs  of  the  foreign  steamship 
interests  published  in  this  country  denounced 
him  as  a  ''subsidy  beggar"  and  other  like 
epithets,  which  was  all  that  they  had  to  offer 
in  answer  to  his  deductions  and  arguments; 
but  even  that  did  not  disturb  the  even  tenor  of 
his  way. 

Finally,  in  the  Forty-seventh  Congress,  a 
joint  select  committee  of  three  Senators  and  six 
Representatives  was  organized,  of  which  Nel- 
son Dingley,  of  Maine,  was  chairman ;  and  this 
organization  led  to  the  formation  of  a  new 
standing  committee  of  the  House  known  as  the 
Committee  on  the  Merchant  Marine  and  Fish- 
eries. Mr.  Dingley 's  committee  spent  an  entire 
summer  in  going  from  point  to  point  on  the 
sea-board  and  taking  testimony  and  statements 
of  all  classes  of  business  men  interested  in  any 
way  or  informed  to  any  responsible  degree  as 

118 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

to  the  condition  of  the  merchant  marine  and 
as  to  the  possible  or  probable  means  to  bring 
about  its  resurrection. 

The  investigation  of  the  Dingley  Committee 
led  to  the  formulation  of  a  comprehensive 
measure  known  as  the  "  Dingley  Shipping 
Bill. ' '  It  was  thoroughly  and  exhaustively  dis- 
cussed through  three  Congresses,  until  finally, 
in  the  last  hours  of  the  short  session  of  the 
Congress  ending  March  4,  1891,  a  bill  was 
passed  providing  for  a  meagre  and  wholly  in- 
sufficient subsidy  in  the  shape  of  special  pay 
for  carrying  the  ocean  mails  of  the  United 
States.  This  bill  was  not  only  meagre  in  its 
provisions,  but  it  was  not  comprehensive  in 
its  application.  It  did  not  result  in  any  im- 
mediate increase  of  foreign  tonnage.  The  fol- 
lowing year,  however,  Mr.  Cramp,  in  a  spirit 
of  meeting  the  free-ship  people  half-way, 
agreed  to  a  compromise  which  provided  that 
certain  ships  of  foreign  (British)  registry 
might  be  admitted  to  American  registry,  pro- 
vided their  owners  would  contract  to  build  two 
ships  of  equal  class  and  tonnage  in  the  United 
States.  This  was  the  act  by  virtue  of  which 
the  English  steamships  "New  York"  and 
"Paris,"  belonging  to  the  International  Navi- 
gation Company,  an  American  corporation  and 
owned  by  American  capital,  were  brought  un- 

119 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

der  the  American  flag,  and  the  "St.  Louis" 
and  "St.  Paul"  were  contracted  for  and  built 
to  meet  the  condition  imposed  by  this  law. 

The  principal  dimensions  and  qualities  of 
these  ships  are  as  follows : 

Length  between  perpendiculars,  535  feet  8  inches. 

Length  over  all,  554  feet  2  inches. 

Extreme  beam,  62  feet  9  inches. 

Depth  from  first  deck  to  flat  keel,  42  feet  4  inches. 

Depth  of  hold  for  tonnage  amidships,  23  feet  2  inches. 

Height  of  bow  above  water-line  at  load  draught,  39  feet. 

Number  of  decks,  5. 

Number  of  water-tight  compartments  exclusive  of  ballast 
tanks,  12. 

Gross  register,  10,700  tons. 

Load  displacement  (about),  15,600  tons. 

Dimensions  of  main  dining-saloon,  109  feet  4  inches  by 
46  feet. 

Dimensions  of  second  cabin,  39  feet  6  inches  by  56  feet. 

Seating  capacity  of  main  saloon,  322. 

Seating  capacity  of  second  cabin,  208. 

Berthing  capacity  of  steerage  (about),  900. 

The  propelling  machinery  is  a  pair  of  verti- 
cal inverted  quadruple-expansion  engines,  to 
carry  a  working  steam-pressure  of  two  hun- 
dred pounds  and  develop  from  18,000  to  20,000 
collective  indicated  horse-power.  These  are 
the  largest  and  most  powerful  marine  engines 
ever  built  in  America,  and,  as  the  principle  of 
quadruple  expansion  has  never  before  been 

120 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

applied  on  so  large  a  scale,  its  results  in  this 
case  have  been  watched  with  interest  by  the 
entire  profession  of  marine  engineering. 

Structurally,  the  art  of  naval  architecture 
has  been  exhausted  in  their  design,  and  the 
skill  of  the  best  mechanics  in  the  world  was 
tried  to  the  utmost  in  their  construction. 
Whatever  may  have  been  their  performance  as 
to  speed  and  time  of  passage,  nothing  is  haz- 
arded in  saying  that  in  safety,  seaworthiness, 
and  comfort  they  are  not  surpassed  by  any- 
thing afloat. 

In  the  general  public  or  patriotic  sense  the 
chief  element  of  interest  in  these  ships  is  the 
fact  that  they  represent  the  inception  of  an 
effort  to  restore  the  prestige  of  the  United 
States  as  a  maritime  commercial  power.  The 
condition  of  affairs  existing  at  the  tune  the 
new  American  Liners  were  projected  was  the 
culminating  point  of  our  feebleness  on  the 
ocean. 

The  Act  of  1891  was  framed  to  expire  by  its 
own  limitation  in  ten  years  from  its  date. 
Taken  in  connection  with  the  Act  of  1892,  al- 
ready referred  to,  it  brought  about  the  con- 
struction of  two  first-class  American  trans- 
Atlantic  greyhounds  (the  "St.  Louis"  and 
"St.  Paul").  Other  companies  or  lines  run- 
ning to  the  West  Indies,  Mexico,  and  South 

121 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

America  were  also  stimulated  to  build  a  few 
new  ships,  but,  generally  speaking,  the  effect 
of  both  these  acts  was  limited,  and  produced 
no  serious  impression  for  the  better  on  the 
American  merchant  marine  in  general. 

This  fact  became  evident  very  soon  after 
these  acts  went  into  effect,  and  it  became  clear 
that  a  broader  and  more  comprehensive  policy 
must  be  adopted  in  the  same  direction  if  any 
great  or  lasting  improvement  of  the  condition 
of  our  merchant  marine  was  to  be  expected. 

This  led  to  the  framing  of  a  new  act,  thor- 
oughly comprehensive  in  its  scope  and  uni- 
versal in  its  application,  on  lines  similar  to 
those  of  the  Dingley  Bill  of  1882,  but  broader. 

Prior  to  1891,  Mr.  Cramp  had  confined  the 
statements,  deductions,  and  arguments  based 
upon  his  experience  and  observation  wholly  to 
hearings  before  committees  of  Congress,  with 
now  and  then  a  newspaper  interview,  which 
in  the  nature  of  things  must  be  transitory  and 
soon  forgotten.  But  in  the  fall  of  1891  he  de- 
termined to  place  his  knowledge  before  the 
public  in  a  more  permanent  form.  This  he 
began  with  a  paper  in  the  Forum  for  Novem- 
ber of  that  year.  The  limits  of  this  Memoir 
do  not  admit  of  the  reproduction  of  this  paper 
in  its  entirety.  It  filled  sixteen  pages  of  the 
Forum.  The  summary  of  the  conclusion,  how- 

122 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

ever,  may  be  reproduced.  After  an  exhaustive 
analysis  of  the  existing  conditions  and  their 
causes,  together  with  a  survey  of  the  probable 
effects  of  the  act  approved  the  previous  March 
(March  3,  1891),  Mr.  Cramp  summed  up  as 
follows : 

"  The  commercial  disadvantages  resulting  from  a  mo- 
nopoly of  our  ocean-carrying  trade  by  foreign  fleets  at- 
tracted public  attention  many  years  ago.  From  the  first 
there  was  practical  unanimity  as  to  the  existence  of  these 
disadvantages,  and  a  like  concurrence  in  the  opinion  that 
1  something  ought  to  be  done'  to  improve  the  situation ; 
but  upon  the  question  of  remedy  there  have  always  been 
wide  divergences  of  view.  It  having  been  generally  con- 
ceded that  the  remedy  must  at  least  begin  in  national  legis- 
lation, the  dispute  has  been  simply  as  to  what  the  char- 
acter of  that  legislation  should  be.  A  certain  faction  con- 
tended that  nothing  was  required  beyond  a  simple  repeal 
of  the  navigation  laws,  to  permit  the  free  importation  and 
registry  of  foreign-built  vessels;  and  bills  to  that  effect 
have  been  introduced,  and  in  many  cases  discussed,  in 
nearly  every  Congress  since  1870.  In  no  case  has  a  bill 
of  this  character  passed  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  but 
once  has  the  measure  received  a  majority  in  either  House. 
That  was  in  the  Forty-seventh  Congress,  when  a  '  Free 
Ship  Amendment'  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Candler,  of 
Massachusetts, — a  bitter  opponent  of  American  ship- 
building,— to  what  was  known  as  the  '  Dingley  Shipping 
Bill,'  and  Mr.  Candler's  amendment  was  attached  to  the 
bill  by  a  small  majority.  The  result  of  this  amendment 
was  to  kill  the  bill.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  discuss  the 
merits  of  this  proposition,  further  than  to  say  that  what- 

123 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

ever  increase  in  American  tonnage  might  accrue  from  it 
would  be  gained  at  the  expense  of  the  destruction  of 
American  ship -building.  That  may  be  set  down  as  an 
axiom  to  be  observed  as  a  necessary  factor  in  every  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject.  As  pointed  out  at  the  beginning 
of  this  paper,  the  ship-building  industry  in  Great  Britain 
has  been  developed  to  such  enormous  proportions,  and  the 
facilities  of  construction  enlarged  to  such  a  scale,  that  our 
own  comparatively  few  and  feeble  shipyards  would  be 
instantly  overwhelmed  in  the  competition  the  moment  our 
market  was  thrown  open  to  them  to  unload  their  old  and 
worn-out  wares  on  American  '  bargain-hunters.' 

"  This  fact  is  now  so  well  understood,  that  I  think  there 
is  no  hazard  in  saying  that  a  large  majority  of  the  best 
minds  of  all  parties  are  convinced  that  the  experiment  of 
trying  to  augment  our  merchant  marine  by  a  policy  calcu- 
lated to  destroy  our  ship-building  industry  would  not  be 
conducive  to  the  general  public  interests. 

"  The  other  mode  of  remedy  advocated  has  been  that 
of  adopting,  in  behalf  of  our  own  shipping,  a  policy 
similar  to  the  one  which  has  produced  such  striking  results 
elsewhere;  that  is  to  say,  public  encouragement  to  the 
ownership  and  operation  of  American-built  vessels  in  the 
foreign  trade.  This  subject  has  for  many  years  claimed 
a  large  share  of  the  attention  of  Congress,  commercial 
organizations,  and  the  press.  Its  discussion  has  taken  a 
wide  scope,  involving  several  exhaustive  inquiries  by  con- 
gressional committees,  numerous  petitions  and  resolutions 
from  boards  of  trades  and  chambers  of  commerce,  with 
almost  innumerable  papers  in  the  public  prints,  and 
speeches  in  our  public  halls ;  the  whole  forming  what  may 
be  called  the  'Literature  of  our  Merchant  Marine.'  Its 
volume  is  so  vast,  that  but  the  barest  reference  to  its 
details  can  be  made  here.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  it  covers 

124 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

every  conceivable  point  at  issue ;  and  it  has  been  so  uni- 
versally published,  that  no  person  of  ordinary  intelligence 
and  education  can  have  excuse  for  ignorance  or  misin- 
formation on  the  subject. 

"  The  results  of  this  agitation  and  discussion  have  been 
bills  in  Congress  from  time  to  time,  providing  for  a  more 
liberal  and  enlightened  policy  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment toward  the  national  merchant  marine.  Some  of  these 
bills  proposed  special  compensations  to  particular  lines 
for  carrying  the  mails.  Such  bills  have  failed  in  conse- 
quence of  the  objection  that  they  involved  the  principle 
of  special  legislation.  Other  measures  proposed  a  general 
bounty  based  upon  tonnage  and  distance  actually  travel- 
led in  foreign  trade.  This  plan  at  the  outset  seemed  more 
popular  than  any  other,  and  there  was  at  one  time  strong 
probability  of  its  enactment  into  law.  But  it  finally  failed, 
partly  on  account  of  clashing  of  diverse  interests,  and 
partly  by  reason  of  '  party  exigencies/  real  or  supposed, 
in  the  House  of  Representatives.  It  is  hardly  pertinent 
at  this  time  to  point  out  the  benefits  that  would  have 
accrued,  directly  and  incidentally,  to  every  branch  of  our 
national  life  and  industry,  from  a  tonnage  law  properly 
administered.  I  have  never  hesitated,  and  do  not  now 
hesitate,  to  declare  that  ten  years  of  its  operation  would 
result  in  placing  our  merchant  marine  in  the  foreign  trade 
on  a  footing  second  only  to  that  of  Great  Britain  in 
amount,  and  vastly  superior  to  it  in  character  and  quality 
of  vessels.  And  I  still  hope  to  see  such  a  policy  adopted 
at  no  distant  day. 

"  I  have  gone  into  detail  to  this  extent  because  it  seemed 
necessary  to  do  so  in  order  to  show  that,  loud  as  has  been 
the  outcry  of  '  subsidy'  raised  against  the  act  recently 
passed,  it  is  still,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  less  liberal  than 


125 


MEMOIRS  OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

existing  provisions  of  the  British  government  for  their 
own  ships  already  in  the  trade  to  be  competed  for. 

"  Thus  far  I  have  dealt  with  facts  only ;  and  I  have 
been  careful  to  avoid  any  matter  susceptible  of  contro- 
versy. In  conclusion,  I  will  venture  a  few  deductions  of 
my  own,  based  upon  the  foregoing  statements  of  simple 
facts.  I  will  assume  at  the  start  that  our  internal  develop- 
ment of  farms,  workshops,  mines,  railways,  coastwise, 
lake,  and  river  commerce,  etc.,  has  reached  a  point  at 
which  capital  has  reached  its  zenith  of  profitable  invest- 
ment in  them,  and  must  look  for  some  new  field,  not  only 
for  further  original  investment,  but  also  for  the  protec- 
tion or  betterment  of  investments  already  made.  In  my 
judgment,  our  energy  and  enterprise  during  the  last 
twenty-five  years  have  exhausted  all  the  large  chances  of 
fortune  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States.  Our 
existing  industries  of  every  description  represent  an  enor- 
mous volume  of  local  '  plant'  and  productive  organizations 
quite  up  to  our  local  requirements  for  some  time;  hence 
it  is  necessary  to  seek  outlets  for  an  inevitable  surplus  of 
product,  and,  in  default  of  such  outlet,  there  must  be  a  ple- 
thora of  production  which  is  bound  to  result  in  stagnation, 
or,  in  other  words,  national  apoplexy.  For  this  there  can 
be  but  one  preventive,  '  an  ounce'  of  which  is  said  on  tra- 
ditional authority  to  be  '  worth  a  pound  of  cure,'  and  that 
is  in  the  development  and  retention  of  external  market 
outlets.  It  is  my  opinion  that  we  can  never  secure  these 
until  we  can  ourselves  command  the  avenues  to  them. 
Commerce  has  its  '  strategy'  no  less  than  war.  In  war, 
strategy  depends  on  lines  of  operation  and  communica- 
tion. At  this  time  we  possess  neither  for  either  commerce 
or  war.  Our  great  rival  controls  both  in  every  sense  of 
the  word.  To-day  we  could  not  even  defend  our  own 
coasts  against  her  obsolete  ironclads  in  war,  and  we  can- 

126 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

not  control  our  own  foreign  commerce  as  against  the 
poorest  and  least  seaworthy  of  her  myriad  of  '  ocean 
tramps.'  If,  for  any  reason,  she  were  to  withdraw  from 
our  trade  the  vessels  which,  by  virtue  of  our  acquiescence, 
do  all  our  trans- Atlantic  fetching  and  carrying  for  us,  our 
peerless  nation  would  be  laid  helpless  under  an  embargo 
compared  to  which  that  of  Jefferson's  administration 
would  be  but  a  mere  trifle  of  annoyance.  It  has  seemed 
strange  to  me  that  so  little  attention  is  paid  to  this  fact. 
What  would  our  political  independence  be  worth,  if  cir- 
cumstances, likely  to  occur  at  any  moment,  should  visit 
upon  us  the  consequences  of  our  commercial  servitude  to 
England?  and  in  a  less,  though  still  important,  degree  to 
Germany  1 

"  This  is  a  plain  statement  of  fact  that  I  do  not  think 
any  reasonable  person  will  have  the  temerity  to  dispute. 
For  the  present  I  have  only  to  add,  that  we  have  done 
nothing  as  yet  to  lift  this  yoke  from  our  necks.  It  cannot 
be  done  except  by  restoring  our  merchant  marine  and 
our  naval  power  to  their  former  status  upon  the  high  seas. 
The  attempts  thus  far  made  in  that  direction  are  but 
feeble.  I  am  not  sanguine  that  they  will  be  strong  in  our 
time,  but  I  hope  so.  It  may  be  that  this  result  will  not 
come  until  we  have  received  a  sterner  lesson  of  our  weak- 
ness and  helplessness  than  any  one  now  anticipates. 

"  This  pitiable  condition  on  the  ocean  is  emphasized  by 
the  contrast  of  our  unrivalled  power,  resource,  and  enter- 
prise within  our  own  borders.  It  seems,  indeed,  the 
strangest  anomaly  of  modern  civilization,  that  the  most 
enlightened,  most  ambitious,  most  energetic,  most  pro- 
ductive, and  internally  most  powerful  nation  on  the  globe 
should  be  externally  among  the  weakest,  most  helpless, 
and  least  respected. 

"  The  sole  remedy  for  this  situation  is  ships  with  sea- 
127 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

men  to  handle  them,  whether  for  peace  or  for  war; 
whether  to  carry  our  enormous  exports,  and  bring  our 
immense  imports,  and  receive  therefor  the  tremendous 
tolls  which  now  flow  into  foreign  coffers,  or  to  vindicate 
the  majesty  and  power  of  our  flag  abroad  in  the  world 
to  a  degree  befitting  our  status  in  the  community  of 
nations. 

a  There  is  no  lack  of  raw  material,  no  lack  of  skill  to 
fashion  it  into  the  instruments  of  commerce.  We  have 
the  iron  and  the  steel;  we  have  the  men  to  work  them 
into  the  finished  forms  of  stately  ships;  we  have  the 
money  to  promote  the  most  colossal  of  enterprises  by  sea. 
All  we  need  is  assurance  of  a  steady  national  policy  of 
liberal  and  enlightened  encouragement,  based  upon  a 
patriotic  common  consent,  and  elevated  above  the  tur- 
moils of  politics  or  the  squabbles  of  parties.  One  decade 
of  such  a  policy  would  make  us  second  only  to  Great 
Britain  on  the  high  seas,  either  for  commerce  or  for  de- 
fence; and  two  decades  of  it  would  bring  us  fairly  into 
the  twentieth  century  as  the  master  maritime  power  of 
the  globe." 

These  observations,  though  written  and 
printed  in  1891,  are  as  true  and  pertinent  now 
as  they  were  then ;  and  they  will  remain  true 
and  pertinent  indefinitely  because  they  embody 
the  practical  logic  of  a  situation;  they  point 
out  the  consequences  it  entails,  and  they  sug- 
gest the  only  remedy  that  has  been  approved 
by  the  cumulative  experience  of  other  nations. 
The  lines  of  fact  are  broad,  plain,  and  unmis- 
takable. No  one  disputes  them. 

128 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

As  before  remarked,  a  quite  brief  experience 
demonstrated  that  the  Ocean  Mail  Pay  Act  of 
March  3,  1891,  was  both  inadequate  in  its 
scope  of  operation  and  insufficient  in  its  vol- 
ume of  aid  to  produce  any  marked  betterment 
of  the  condition  of  our  foreign  trade.  The 
restricted  nature  of  its  application  and  the 
comparatively  small  amounts  paid  were  not 
sufficient  to  encourage  the  establishment  of 
new  lines,  the  opening  of  new  sea  routes,  or 
the  construction  of  new  and  up-to-date  vessels 
under  the  American  flag.  One  result  of  this 
development  was  the  formation  of  a  commit- 
tee, composed  of  the  most  prominent  ship- 
builders and  ship-owners  in  the  country, 
known  as  the  Committee  on  the  Merchant  Ma- 
rine. Of  this  committee  Mr.  Cramp  was  one 
of  the  originators,  and  always  among  the 
most  prominent  and  active  members.  Its  ob- 
ject was  to  concentrate  the  power  of  indi- 
viduals in  a  concerted  body  for  the  purpose 
of  furnishing  facts  and  disseminating  knowl- 
edge with  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  mer- 
chant marine  and  its  needs  not  only  in  Con- 
gress, but  also  among  the  people  throughout 
the  country.  Hitherto  the  efforts  of  indi- 
viduals had  been  exerted  singly  and  often  di- 
vergently ;  but  it  was  hoped  and  believed  that, 
by  the  organization  of  this  committee  and 

129  9 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

through  the  concerted  action  which  would  re- 
sult from  its  deliberations  and  researches,  a 
harmonious  and  uniform  scheme  might  be 
brought  forward  which  would  ultimately  com- 
mand the  public  support  of  all  men  animated 
by  a  patriotic  desire  to  see  the  American  flag 
restored  to  its  former  proud  rank  on  the  high 
sea. 

The  first  result  of  this  policy  was  the  for- 
mulation of  a  bill  based  upon  tonnage  and  dis- 
tance travelled.  It  was  to  some  extent  analo- 
gous to  the  system  then  prevailing  in  France 
commonly  known  as  the  tonnage  bounty  sys- 
tem. 

When  this  bill  was  first  brought  forward, 
being  introduced  by  Mr.  Frye,  of  Maine,  in 
the  Senate,  and  by  Mr.  Dingley,  in  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives,  the  foreign  steamship  owners 
or  their  agents  in  this  country  at  once  became 
greatly  alarmed.  They  had  not  offered  a  very 
vigorous  resistance  to  the  passage  of  the 
Ocean  Mail  Pay  Act  of  1891,  because  their 
knowledge  of  the  business  and  their  keen  sense 
of  the  situation  taught  them  that  there  was  not 
much  danger  to  their  interests  in  that  bill. 
They  made  a  show  of  opposing  it,  of  course, 
but  they  spent  very  little  money  or  time  and 
made  no  really  determined  effort  to  beat  it. 
In  fact,  the  foreign  steamship  owners  and  the 

130 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

managers  of  the  foreign  lines  which  were 
doing  the  ocean-carrying  trade  of  the  United 
States  realized  before  that  bill  became  a  law 
what  it  took  our  people  two  or  three  years  to 
find  out.  But  when  the  tonnage  bounty  bill 
was  brought  forward,  with  the  general  applica- 
bility of  its  provisions  to  all  kinds  of  vessels 
engaged  in  the  foreign  carrying  trade,  and 
proposing,  as  it  did,  a  rate  of  bounty  which 
would  have  gone  far  toward  equalizing  the 
difference  in  cost  of  seafaring  labor  and  sub- 
sistence as  between  American  and  foreign 
ships,  the  owners  and  managers  of  the  steam- 
ship lines  *  and  tramps  that  were  carrying  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States  determined 

*  These  managers  of  foreign  lines  proceeded  system- 
atically. Whatever  may  have  been  the  activity  of  their 
competition  for  the  carrying  trade  of  the  United  States, 
they  were  unanimous  in  their  determination  to  prevent 
the  growth  of  an  American  merchant  marine.  Acting 
under  the  guise  of  a  pretended  business  combine,  which, 
for  convenience,  they  termed  "  The  North  Atlantic  Traffic 
Association,"  they  raised  funds,  hired  lobbyists, — among 
whom  appeared  ex-officials  of  positions  as  high  as  the 
Cabinet, — and  by  every  possible  means  known  to  modern 
ingenuity  thwarted  every  effort  of  those  favoring  Ameri- 
can interests,  both  in  and  out  of  Congress.  This  combina- 
tion has  no  reason  for  existence  except  that  of  organized 
and  systematic  lobbying  against  American  interests  in  the 
corridors  and  committee  rooms  of  the  American  Congress. 

131 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

that  it  must  be  beaten  at  all  hazards  and  at 
any  cost.  This  struggle  began  in  1894.  The 
original  tonnage  bill  passed  the  Senate,  but 
was  smothered  in  the  House.  The  owners  and 
managers  of  the  foreign  steamship  lines  could 
not  control  the  Senate,  but  they  appeared  able 
to  affect  the  action  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives negatively,  at  least,  if  not  positively. 

A  similar  measure  was  brought  forward 
again  in  the  Congress  elected  with  President 
McKinley  in  1896,  and  the  bill  passed  the 
Senate,  again  to  meet  the  same  fate  as  its 
predecessor  in  a  Republican  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives with  a  thorough  working  majority, 
notwithstanding  that  the  policy  of  aid  to 
American  shipping  had  been  a  cardinal  plank 
in  the  platform  of  that  year,  upon  which  that 
House  had  been  elected.  The  defection  was 
almost  wholly  among  Western  Republicans. 

During  the  contest  over  the  bill  in  the  Con- 
gress under  consideration,  the  tactics  of  the  for- 
eign steamship  owners  and  managers,  person- 
ally as  well  as  through  their  hired  agents,  were 
a  disgrace  to  the  good  name  of  American  legis- 
lation. They  threw  off  all  disguise  and  openly 
lobbied  on  the  floors  and  in  the  corridors  and 
committee  rooms  of  the  House  to  prevent  con- 
sideration of  the  bill.  In  that  Congress  there 
was  every  prospect  that  if  the  Senate  Bill 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

could  be  brought  up  for  consideration  it  would 
pass  with  some  trifling  amendments,  which 
could  easily  be  adjusted  in  conference  commit- 
tee. The  whole  strategy  of  the  alien  shipping 
interests  was  to  prevent  consideration,  which 
they  ultimately  succeeded  in  doing  by  working 
upon  the  susceptibility  or  the  apprehension^ 
of  certain  Republicans  from  the  far  Western 
States. 

In  1898,  the  tonnage  bounty  bill  in  a  modified 
form  was  brought  forward  again;  this  time 
with  a  limitation  of  the  amount  to  be  expended 
under  its  provisions  in  any  one  fiscal  year  to 
nine  millions  of  dollars,  but  it  met  the  same 
kind  of  opposition  that  had  beaten  its  two 
predecessors,  and  it  shared  their  fate,  passing 
the  Senate  and  being  denied  consideration  in 
the  House. 

Finally,  in  the  Congress  elected  in  1900  and 
assembling  in  1901,  a  tonnage  bill  still  further 
modified  was  brought  forward  and  passed  the 
Senate.  For  a  time  it  was  believed  that  the 
alien  ship-owners  and  managers  would  not  be 
able  to  beat  this  bill  as  they  had  its  predeces- 
sors, and  strong  hopes  were  indulged  by  its 
friends  that  it  would  receive  consideration  in 
the  House.  Even  up  to  the  last  few  weeks  of 
the  closing  session  of  the  Fifty-seventh  Con- 
gress which  expired  March  3,  1903,  the  Chair- 

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MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

man  of  the  Committee  on  Merchant  Marine 
and  other  advocates  and  friends  of  the  bill 
believed  that  they  would  be  able  to  get  a  rule 
for  its  consideration  even  at  the  last  moment. 
But  that  hope,  like  all  the  others,  passed  away. 

To  go  back  a  little,  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
remark  here  that  the  national  misfortune  did 
not  even  end  with  the  failure  of  these  bills, 
and  the  consequent  continued  depression  or 
paralysis  of  the  American  foreign  carrying 
trade.  There  was  from  time  to  time  sufficient 
prospect,  or  at  least  possibility,  of  the  passage 
of  a  practical  and  effective  law  for  the  aid  and 
encouragement  of  American  shipping  to  in- 
duce the  investment  of  a  large  amount  of  capi- 
tal by  sanguine  persons  in  new  ship-building 
plants  of  considerable  magnitude,  whereby  the 
trade  as  it  stood  was  not  only  greatly  over- 
done, but  the  skilled  ship-building  labor  of  the 
country  was  overdrawn.  There  seemed  to  be 
a  theory  that  plenty  of  money  to  invest  in  plant 
or  to  sink  in  unprofitable  enterprises  could  be 
depended  on  to  make  up  for  the  lack  of  ex- 
perience in  the  management  of  shipyards  and 
want  of  skill  in  ship-building  labor.  The  result 
was  disastrous  not  only  to  the  investors  in  the 
stock  and  bonds  of  the  new  shipyards,  but  also 
to  the  entire  ship-building  industry,  as  it  had 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

been  developed  on  a  practical  and  legitimate 
basis. 

With  the  final  failure  of  all  legislation  to 
promote  American  commerce  in  the  foreign 
carrying  trade,  there  was  no  resource  left  for 
either  the  new  shipyards  or  the  old  except  such 
work  as  the  coastwise  trade  might  provide  and 
the  construction  of  naval  vessels.  As  for  the 
coastwise  trade,  it  was  already  well  provided 
with  new  and  highly  serviceable  steamships 
likely  to  fill  the  demands  of  the  traffic  for  sev- 
eral years  to  come,  so  that  little  or  no  new 
work  could  be  expected  from  that  quarter. 

The  naval  programme  did  not  in  any  year 
put  forward  as  many  ships  as  there  were  ship- 
yards. The  government  itself  seemed  to  adopt 
the  policy  of  fostering  and  promoting  the  new 
shipyards  at  the  expense  of  the  old,  whereby 
the  former  were  overloaded  with  work  which 
they  could  not  do,  and  they  invariably  became 
so  hopelessly  delinquent  as  to  make  the  time 
clause  of  the  contracts  an  utter  farce.  New 
shipyards,  which  had  never  completed  a  ship 
of  any  description,  were  loaded  with  15,000 
and  16,000-ton  battleships  of  the  most  complex 
and  difficult  construction,  requiring  the  highest 
skill  and  the  most  approved  experience  in 
every  respect  to  carry  on  the  work  required 
for  their  completion. 

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MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

It  is  not  necessary  to  particularize  further 
on  this  point,  except  to  say  that  very  large 
and  important  vessels,  awarded  to  new  and  in- 
experienced concerns  with  a  contract  time  for 
completion  of  three  years,  could  not  by  any 
possibility  be  finished  inside  of  six  or  seven. 
So  the  question  naturally  has  arisen  as  to 
whether,  in  the  formulation  of  its  ship-build- 
ing programmes  or  in  its  output  of  awards  to 
contractors,  the  government  really  desires  to 
augment  its  naval  force  in  the  shortest  possible 
time  or  to  figure  as  a  good  Samaritan  toward 
new,  inexperienced,  unskilled,  and  needy  ship- 
yards, owners,  and  managers.  Such  a  policy 
is  based  upon  the  fundamental  error  that  what 
is  called  "plant"  makes  a  shipyard.  The 
real  shipyard  is  not  merely  ground,  water- 
front, buildings,  and  machinery,  commonly 
called  plant ;  but  with  a  thoroughly  organized 
personnel  in  staff  and  working-men;  with  a 
generation  or  more  of  training  and  experience 
behind  them.  That  is  a  complete  shipyard. 
So  far  as  mere  plant  is  concerned,  the  size  of 
a  new  shipyard  or  the  amount  of  money  spent 
on  it  cannot  create  a  range  of  capabilities.  The 
indispensable  and  over-ruling  requisite  is  the 
trained  staff  and  trained  men  that  are  in  it. 
The  lay-out  of  land,  buildings,  and  machinery 
is  but  a  small  factor  in  the  operation  of  an 

136 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

effective  shipyard.  Another  thing  to  be  pri- 
marily considered  is  that  there  are  no  enter- 
prises of  industrial,  railroad,  or  mining  inter- 
est that  can  be  compared  with  a  large  modern 
shipyard  for  intricacy  of  professional  and 
mechanical  subdivisions  in  its  organization. 

Every  handicraft  or  mechanical  pursuit  is 
to  be  found  in  such  a  shipyard  or  closely  corre- 
lated with  and  contributory  to  it.  The  group- 
ing of  these  diverse  elements  into  a  harmoni- 
ous working  whole  needs  the  hand  not  only  of 
a  master,  but  a  master  of  long  continuous 
training ;  and  in  the  adjustment  of  the  various 
parts  of  the  group,  it  is  time,  experience,  and 
knowledge  of  the  men  composing  it  which  are 
indispensable. 

Returning  now  to  the  main  theme,  it  seems 
proper  to  explain  what  the  real  bone  of  con- 
tention is  in  this  struggle  between  the  impulse 
of  American  patriotism  and  the  greed  of  for- 
eign ship-owners.  It  all  goes  back  to  the  fun- 
damental navigation  laws  of  the  United  States 
which  prohibit  the  registry  of  any  foreign  built 
ship  under  the  American  flag  except  in  certain 
cases  provided  by  law,  which  are  not  suffi- 
ciently numerous  to  be  formidable. 

In  their  warfare  against  government  aid  and 
encouragement  to  American  shipping,  the  for- 


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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

eign  ship-owners  and  ship-builders  have  not 
met  the  issue  squarely  or  fairly  face  to  face. 
They  have  invariably  resorted  to  a  subterfuge 
which  is  commonly  known  as  the  doctrine  of 
free  ships,  the  meaning  and  significance  of 
which  are  not  understood  by  the  general  pub- 
lic, and  its  consequences  are  realized  most  im- 
perfectly, if  at  all. 

The  phrase  viewed  as  a  glittering  generality 
is  seductive,  and  it  is  regarded  by  many  people 
as  a  mere  proposition  to  enable  American  ship- 
owners to  buy  their  ships  where  they  can  get 
them  the  cheapest,  as  the  saying  is.  It  is  a 
curious  fact  that,  with  all  the  learning  and 
the  so-called  logic  of  political  economists,  they 
have  never  yet,  from  Adam  Smith  down, 
clearly  defined  to  us  what  really  constitutes 
cheapness  in  all  its  elements,  or  what  consti- 
tutes the  reverse,  or  costliness.  A  mere  differ- 
ence in  dollars  and  cents  for  a  given  thing  to 
perform  a  certain  work  by  no  means  expresses 
the  difference.  It  may,  and  often  does  in  fact, 
befog  or  confuse  the  mind.  A  bad  or  poorly 
constructed  thing  may  be  called  cheap,  and  a 
good,  well-constructed  thing  may  be  termed 
costly,  measured  by  dollars  and  cents,  and  yet 
practically,  in  view  of  efficiency,  durability, 
and  all  the  other  elements  of  desirability,  the 
so-called  costly  thing  may  be  actually  cheaper 

138 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

than  the  so-called  cheap  thing,  both  being  in- 
tended for  the  same  purpose. 

A  free  ship  law,  or  the  repeal  of  our  exist- 
ing navigation  laws,  would  unquestionably  load 
our  registry  with  ships  cheap  in  dollars  and 
cents,  but  they  would  prove  dear  in  everything 
else.  In  order  to  do  what  lay  in  his  power  to 
correct  these  misapprehensions  and  clear  away 
this  fog  of  ignorance  on  that  particular  sub- 
ject, Mr.  Cramp,  in  the  North  American  Re- 
view for  April,  1894,  printed  a  paper  entitled 
"Our  Navigation  Laws." 

In  the  course  of  this  paper  he  called  atten- 
tion to  certain  facts  of  permanent  historical 
value  which  there  seemed  a  tendency  to  forget 
or  ignore : 

"At  the  time  of  the  Franco-German  War  of  1870-71, 
even  so  sturdy  a  patriot  as  General  Grant,  then  President, 
was  persuaded  for  a  time  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing 
for  our  commerce,  as  a  neutral  nation,  to  permit  American 
registry  of  foreign-built  vessels,  the  theory  being  that 
many  vessels  of  nations  which  might  become  involved  in 
the  struggle  would  seek  the  asylum  of  our  flag. 

"Actuated  by  powerful  New  York  influence,  already 
conspicuously  hostile  to  the  American  merchant  marine, 
General  Grant,  in  a  special  message,  recommended  that 
Congress  enact  legislation  to  that  end.  This  proposition 
was  antagonized  by  Judge  Kelley,  of  Pennsylvania, — 
always  at  the  front  when  American  interests  were  threat- 
ened,— in  one  of  his  most  powerful  efforts,  couched  in  the 

139 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

vehement  eloquence  of  which  he  was  master,  which  im- 
pressed General  Grant  so  much  that  he  abandoned  that 
policy,  and  subsequently  adhered  to  the  existing  system. 

"I  will  not  stop  here  to  point  out  in  detail  the  tre- 
mendous political  and  diplomatic  advantage  which  Eng- 
land would  enjoy  when  dealing  with  other  maritime 
powers,  if  she  could  have  always  at  hand  an  asylum  for 
the  lame  ducks  of  her  commercial  fleet  in  time  of  war. 
Her  ocean  greyhounds,  that  could  either  escape  the 
enemy's  cruisers  or  be  readily  converted  into  cruisers 
themselves,  might  remain  under  her  flag;  but  all  her 
slow  freighters,  tramps,  and  obsolete  passenger  boats  of 
past  eras  would  be  transferred  by  sham  sales  to  our  flag, 
under  which  they  could  pursue  their  traffic  in  safety 
during  the  war  under  peace  rates  of  insurance,  and  with- 
out any  material  diversion  of  their  earnings,  which  would 
of  course  be  increased  by  war  freight  rates,  returning  to 
their  former  allegiance  at  the  end  of  the  war.  The  lack 
of  such  an  asylum  amounts  to  a  perpetual  bond  to  keep 
the  peace. 

"  From  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  to  about  1880  there 
was  but  feeble  effort  to  revive  ship-building  in  this 
country.  All  our  energies  of  capital  and  enterprise,  as  I 
have  remarked  elsewhere,  were  directed  to  the  extension 
of  railways  in  every  direction,  to  the  repair  of  the  war 
ravages  in  the  South,  to  the  settlement  of  the  vast  terri- 
tories of  the  West, — in  a  word,  to  purely  domestic  de- 
velopment, pending  which  England  was  by  common  con- 
sent left  to  enjoy  her  ocean  monopoly. 

"  Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  1883~85,  when  the 
adoption  of  the  policy  of  naval  reconstruction  offered  to 
American  ship-building  the  first  encouragement  it  had 
seen  in  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

"  When  we  began  to  build  the  new  navy,  every  English 
140 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

journal,  from  the  London  Times  down,  pooh-poohed  the 
idea  that  a  modern  man-of-war  could  be  built  in  an  Amer- 
ican yard,  modern  high-powered  engines  in  an  American 
machine-shop,  or  modern  breech-loading  cannon  in  an 
American  forge.  Many  of  the  English  ship-builder? 
rubbed  their  hands  in  actual  anticipation  of  orders  from 
this  government  for  the  ships  and  guns  needed ;  and  they 
blandly  assured  us  that  they  would  give  us  quite  as  favor- 
able terms  as  were  accorded  to  China,  Japan,  and  Chili. 
And,  to  their  shame  be  it  said,  there  were  officers  of  our 
navy  who  not  only  adopted  this  view,  but  did  all  they 
could  to  commit  our  government  to  the  pernicious  policy. 

"  In  1885,  when  Secretary  Whitney  took  control  of  the 
Navy  Department,  the  efforts  of  English  ship-builders  to 
secure  at  least  a  share  of  the  work  were  renewed.  By  this 
time  the  English  were  willing  to  admit  that  the  hulls  of 
modern  ships  could  be  built  in  the  United  States;  but 
they  were  satisfied  that  our  best  policy  would  be  to  buy 
the  necessary  engines,  cannon,  and  armor  from  them. 
Secretary  Whitney,  however,  promptly  decided  that  the 
only  article  of  foreign  production  which  the  new  navy 
needed  was  the  plans  of  vessels  for  comparison.  This  was 
wise,  because  it  placed  in  the  hands  of  our  builders  the 
results  of  the  most  mature  experience  abroad,  at  com- 
paratively small  cost.  But  one  of  the  earliest  and  firmest 
decisions  of  Mr.  Whitney  was  that  our  naval  vessels,  ma- 
chinery and  all,  must  be  built  at  home  and  of  domestic 
material. 

"  The  efforts  of  the  English  builders  to  get  the  engine- 
work  for  our  new  navy  were  much  more  serious  and 
formidable  than  is  generally  known.  A  prominent  member 
of  the  House  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  proposed  an 
amendment  to  a  pending  naval  bill  empowering  the  Secre- 
tary at  his  discretion  to  contract  abroad  for  the  construc- 

141 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

tion  of  propelling  machinery  for  our  naval  ships.  The 
language  was,  of  course,  general,  but  every  one  knows  that 
the  term  '  abroad'  in  this  sense  would  be  synonymous  with 
Great  Britain,  and  nothing  more. 

"  Mr.  Whitney  promptly  met  this  proposition  with  a 
protest  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  to  the  Naval  Committee 
dated  February  27,  1886.  He  said  that,  so  far  as  he  was 
concerned,  he  would  not  avail  himself  of  such  a  power  if 
granted.  There  was  no  occasion  for  such  power;  and  it 
could  have  no  effect  except  to  keep  American  builders  in 
suspense,  and  thereby  augment  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
capital  for  the  enlargement  of  their  facilities  to  meet  the 
national  requirements.  Mr.  Whitney's  protest  was  so 
vigorous  that  the  proposition  died  from  its  effects  in  the 
committee  and  has  been  well-nigh  forgotten.  The  pro- 
poser himself  became  satisfied  that  he  had  been  misled  by 
the  representations  of  naval  officers  who  were  under  Eng- 
lish influence,  and  did  not  press  his  amendment. 

"  I  have  brought  these  facts  forward  for  the  purpose 
of  emphasizing  my  declaration  that  the  promotive  in- 
fluence behind  every  movement  against  our  navigation  laws 
is  of  British  origin,  and  whenever  you  put  a  pin  through 
a  free-ship  bill  you  prick  an  Englishman. 

"  The  portion  of  Mr.  Whitney's  letter  referring  to  the 
proposed  free-engine  clause  in  the  Naval  Bill  of  1886  was 
as  follows: 

" '  I  think  our  true  policy  is  to  borrow  the  ideas  of  our 
neighbors  as  far  as  they  are  thought  to  be  in  advance 
of  ours,  give  them  to  our  ship-builders  in  the  shape  of 
plans;  and,  having  this  object  in  view,  I  have  been 
anxious  to  acquire  detailed  drawings  of  the  latest  ma- 
chinery in  use  abroad,  and  should  feel  at  liberty  to  spend 
more  in  the  same  way  in  getting  hold  of  the  latest  things 
as  far  as  possible  for  the  purpose  of  utilizing  them.  We 

142 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

have  made  important  accumulations  in  this  line  during 
the  last  six  months.  I  think  I  ought  to  say  to  the  com- 
mittee that  I  have  placed  myself  in  communication  with 
some  of  the  principal  marine-engine  builders  of  the 
country  within  the  last  three  months  for  the  purpose  of 
conferring  with  them  upon  this  subject.  I  detailed  two 
officers  of  the  navy, — a  chief  engineer  and  a  line  officer, — 
who,  under  my  directions,  visited  the  principal  establish- 
ments in  the  East.  They  recognize  that  in  the  matter  of 
engines  for  naval  ships  we  are  quite  inexperienced  as 
compared  with  some  other  countries.  It  is  this  fact, 
doubtless,  which  the  committee  has  in  view  in  authorizing 
the  purchase  and  importation  of  engines  for  one  of  the 
vessels  authorized  to  be  constructed  under  this  act.  If 
the  committee  will  permit  me  to  make  the  suggestion,  I 
find  myself  quite  satisfied,  after  consultation  with  people 
engaged  in  the  industry  in  this  country,  that  it  would  not 
be  necessary  for  me  to  avail  myself  of  that  discretionary 
power  in  order  to  produce  machines  of  the  most  advanced 
character.  Our  marine-engine  builders  in  general  express 
their  inability  at  the  present  moment  to  design  the  latest 
and  most  approved  type  of  engines  for  naval  vessels, — 
an  inability  arising  from  the  fact  that  they  have  not  been 
called  upon  to  do  anything  of  importance  in  that  line.  At 
the  same  time,  they  state  that  if  they  are  given  the  neces- 
sary time,  and  are  asked  to  offer  designs  in  competition, 
they  would  acquaint  themselves  with  the  state  of  the  art 
abroad  and  here,  and  would  prepare  to  offer  to  the  gov- 
ernment designs  embodying  the  latest  improvements  in  the 
art.  And  they  are  ready  to  construct  at  the  present  time 
anything  that  can  be  built  anywhere  else  if  the  plans  are 
furnished.  As  I  find  no  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
purchasing  plans  (in  fact,  there  is  an  entire  readiness  to 
sell  to  us  on  the  part  of  the  engine-builders  abroad),  I 

143 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

think  the  solution  of  the  question  will  be  not  very  difficult, 
although  it  may  require  some  time  and  a  little  delay.' " 

At  this  writing  (1903),  only  eighteen  years 
have  elapsed  since  the  date  of  Secretary  Whit- 
ney's letter.  The  wisdom  of  his  policy  needs 
no  eulogy  beyond  the  history  of  the  develop- 
ment of  steam-engineering  in  the  United  States 
during  that  brief  period.  In  fact,  no  other 
eulogy  could  be  a  tenth  part  as  eloquent  as 
that  history  is. 

The  policy  of  Secretary  "Whitney  was  in  fact 
an  echo  of  the  sturdy  patriotism  that  framed 
the  Act  of  December  31,  1792,  dictated  by  the 
same  impulse  of  national  independence  and 
conceived  in  the  same  aspiration  of  patriotic 
pride. 

And  now,  in  the  face  of  this  record  so  fresh 
and  recent,  the  same  old  demand  for  English 
free  ships  is  heard  again  in  our  midst,  pro- 
moted by  the  same  old  lobby  and  pressed  on 
the  same  old  lines.  Are  we  never  to  hear  the 
last  of  it?  Is  there  to  be  a  perennial  supply 
of  American  legislators  willing  to  promote  a 
British  industry  by  destroying  an  American 
one  ?  To  all  history,  to  all  logic,  they  oppose  a 
single  phrase:  "Let  us  buy  ships  where  they 
are  cheapest. ' '  Well,  if  national  independence 
is  valueless,  and  if  everything  is  to  be  sub- 
ordinated to  cheapness,  why  not  get  our  laws 

144 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

made  in  the  House  of  Commons?  The  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Commons  legislate  for 
nothing.  Senators  and  Representatives  charge 
$5000  a  year  for  their  services,  besides  station- 
ery allowance  and  mileage.  The  House  of 
Commons  makes  laws  cheaper  than  our  Con- 
gress does.  Our  ships  and  our  capacity  to 
create  them  are  as  much  a  symbol  of  inde- 
pendence as  our  laws  are;  and  if  it  is  good 
policy  to  get  the  former  where  they  are  cheap- 
est, why  not  get  the  latter  on  the  same  terms? 

British  warfare  against  American  ships  and 
shipping  by  no  means  stopped  at  extravagant 
subsidies  to  her  own  ships;  did  not  stop  at 
determined,  and  thus  far  successful,  efforts  to 
defeat  American  legislation  of  a  similar  char- 
acter ;  did  not  even  stop  at  vigorous  and  often 
corrupt  attacks  upon  our  navigation  laws 
through  the  lobbies  of  our  own  Congress. 

Of  course,  all  these  considerations  at  this 
writing  (1903)  have  become  ancient  history. 
The  iron  ship  has  not  only  completely  domi- 
nated British  naval  architecture,  but  that  of  all 
other  European  countries,  and  has  established 
itself  on  an  equally  permanent  and  secure  foot- 
ing in  the  United  States.  A  few  wooden  ships 
are  still  built  in  this  country,  but  they  are 
mostly  schooners  for  the  coastwise  trade,  and 
really  cut  little  or  no  figure  in  commercial  con- 
10  145 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

ditions  outside  of  our  own  coast.  Yet,  although 
it  be  ancient  history,  viewed  in  the  light  of  the 
enormous  changes  that  have  occurred  in  thirty 
or  thirty-five  years,  still,  it  is  instructive  to 
know  the  springs  and  motives  of  the  public 
statecraft  and  the  private  commercial  strategy 
which  forced  the  iron  ship  in  and  the  wooden 
ship  out.  That  this  was  bound  to  come  in  the 
nature  of  things  does  not  admit  of  doubt ;  but 
it  is  equally  clear  that  the  policy  of  interested 
parties  forced  the  situation  in  favor  of  British 
shipping  interests,  and  at  the  time  adversely 
to  those  of  the  United  States  both  as  to  ship- 
owning  and  as  to  ship-building,  which  are 
inseparably  interdependent. 

In  1897,  Mr.  Cramp,  being  prevented  by 
other  business  from  attending  a  hearing  before 
the  Committee  on  the  Merchant  Marine  on  the 
day  set  for  his  appearance,  addressed  to  it  a 
letter,  in  which,  after  briefly  reviewing  the  con- 
ditions and  causes  already  set  forth,  he  said : 

"  The  interests  of  ship-owning  and  ship-building  are 
identical,  because  no  nation  can  successfully  own  ships 
that  cannot  successfully  build  them. 

"No  nation  can  either  own  or  build  ships  when,  un- 
protected and  unencouraged,  if  it  is  brought  in  competi- 
tion with  other  nations  that  are  protected  and  encouraged. 

"  This  is  the  existing  condition  of  the  ship-owning  and 
ship-building  interests  of  the  United  States. 

146 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

"  The  resulting  fact  is  that  the  enormous  revenue  repre- 
sented by  the  freight  and  passenger  tolls  on  our  com- 
merce and  travel  is  constantly  drained  out  of  this  country 
into  British,  German,  and  French  pockets,  in  the  order 
named,  but  mainly  British;  while  the  vast  industrial  in- 
crement represented  by  the  necessary  ship-building  inures 
almost  wholly  to  Great  Britain. 

"  For  this  drain  there  is  no  recompense.  It  is  sheer  loss. 
It  is  the  principal  cause  of  our  existing  financial  condition. 

"  So  long  as  this  drain  continues,  no  tariff  and  no  mone- 
tary policy  can  restore  the  national  prosperity. 

"Until  we  make  some  provision  to  keep  at  home  some 
part  at  least  of  the  three  hundred  and  odd  millions  an- 
nually sucked  out  of  this  country  by  foreign  ship-owners 
and  ship-builders,  no  other  legislation  can  bring  good  times 
back  again. 

"  It  is  a  constant  stream  of  gold  always  flowing  out. 

"  The  foreign  ship-owner  who  carries  our  over-sea  com- 
merce makes  us  pay  the  freight  both  ways. 

"  For  our  exports  we  get  the  foreign  market  price  less 
the  freight. 

"  For  our  imports  we  pay  the  foreign  market  price  plus 
the  freight. 

"  No  fine-spun  theory  of  any  cloistered  or  collegiate 
doctrinaire  can  wipe  out  these  facts. 

"  The  fact  that  so  long  as  the  freight  is  paid  to  a 
foreign  ship-owner,  so  long  will  it  be  a  foreign  profit  on 
a  foreign  product,  is  fundamental  and  unanswerable. 

"  The  English  steamship  is  a  foreign  product,  and  its 
earnings,  which  we  pay,  are  a  foreign  profit. 

"No  sane  man  will  argue  that  a  foreign  profit  on  a 
foreign  product  can  be  of  domestic  benefit. 

"Add  to  this  the  fact,  equally  important,  that  the 
carrier  of  commerce  controls  its  exchanges,  and  the  con- 

147 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

dition  of  commercial,  financial,  and  industrial  subjugation 
is  complete.  Such  is  our  condition  to-day. 

"  Great  Britain  has  many  outlying  colonies  and  depen- 
dencies. 

"  The  greatest  two  are  India  and  the  United  States. 

"  She  holds  India  by  force  of  arms,  whereby  her  con- 
trol of  that  country  costs  her  something.  She  has  to  pay 
something  for  her  financial  and  commercial  drainage  of 
India. 

"  She  holds  the  United  States  by  the  folly  of  its  own 
people,  whereby  her  control  of  this  country  costs  her 
nothing.  She  has  to  pay  nothing  for  her  financial  and 
commercial  drainage  of  the  United  States. 

"  But  the  amount  of  her  annual  drainage  of  gold  from 
the  United  States  far  exceeds  that  from  India. 

"  Therefore  the  United  States  is  by  far  the  most  valu- 
able of  all  the  dependencies  of  Great  Britain. 

"  In  the  relation  of  India  to  England  there  is  something 
pitiable,  because  India  is  helpless. 

"  In  the  relation  of  the  United  States  to  England  there 
is  nothing  that  is  not  contemptible,  because  it  is  the  will- 
ing servitude  of  a  nation  that  could  help  herself  if  she 
would. 

"  England  is  wide  awake  to  those  conditions,  and  keenly 
appreciates  their  priceless  value  to  her. 

"  The  United  States  blinks  at  them,  half  dazed,  half 
asleep,  insensible  of  their  tremendous  damage  to  her. 

"England,  clearly  seeing  that  in  this  age  more  than 
ever  before  ocean  empire  is  world  empire,  strains  every 
nerve  to  perpetuate  her  sea  power  and  exhausts  her  re- 
sources to  double-rivet  the  fetters  which  it  fastens  upon 
mankind. 

"  Though  in  1885  England  already  had  a  navy  superior 
to  those  of  any  two  and  equal  to  those  of  any  three  other 

148 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

powers,  if  not  to  all  others,  she  has  since  that  date  built 
a  new  navy  which,  with  what  remains  most  available  of 
the  old  one,  overshadows  the  world,  and  makes  the  sea 
as  much  British  territory  as  the  County  of  Middlesex." 

While  this  contest  was  going  on  between 
American  ship-owners  and  ship-builders  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  alien  combinations  who 
control  our  ocean  commerce  on  the  other,  a 
vast  amount  of  American  capital  was  gradu- 
ally invested  in  shipping  under  the  British  flag, 
and  at  least  an  equal  amount  awaited  any  rea- 
sonable encouragement  to  build  ships  in  this 
country  to  sail  under  the  American  flag.  Of 
course,  it  would  have  been  folly  for  the  men 
who  controlled  this  capital  to  invest  it  in 
American  ships  with  a  clear  handicap  of  at 
least  15  to  20  per  cent,  against  them  in  oper- 
ating expenses,  ton  for  ton,  in  competition  with 
the  aided,  fostered,  and  subsidized  fleets  of 
England,  Germany,  and  France.  For  a  long 
time  this  mass  of  capital  was  held  in  hope  of 
the  adoption  of  a  policy  by  our  government 
that  would  tend  to  lift  the  handicap  and  equal- 
ize as  far  as  possible  the  burdens  of  operating 
American  ships  as  compared  with  others.  But 
when  Congress  adjourned  March  4,  1901, 
leaving  the  shipping  question  where  it  had 
been  ever  since  the  Civil  War,  and  offering,  if 
possible,  less  hope  than  ever  before,  the  mass 

149 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

of  American  capital  that  had  been  held  back 
was  let  loose.  Soon  rumors  that  a  great 
merger  of  British  steamship  lines  with  the  In- 
ternational Navigation  Company  was  in  prog- 
ress filled  the  air.  It  soon  appeared  that  there 
was  plenty  of  American  capital  to  invest  in 
ships  under  foreign  flags,  but  none  under  the 
American  flag  so  long  as  the  existing  situation 
might  last.  The  ship-owners  may  have  been 
patriotic,  but  their  patriotism  was  not  enthusi- 
astic enough  to  make  them  willing  to  pay  a 
penalty  of  15  to  20  per  cent,  for  the  sake  of  it. 
This  movement  soon  took  shape  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  International  Mercantile  Marine 
Company,  in  which  was  merged  the  control  and 
management  of  the  International,  the  White 
Star,  the  Leyland,  and  the  Atlantic  Transport 
Lines ;  the  whole  forming  by  far  the  greatest 
aggregation  of  vessels  and  tonnage  ever 
grouped  under  one  control.  This  control  was 
American,*  but  the  ships  were  of  British  regis- 
try except  six,  built  by  the  Cramps  and  sev- 
eral others— the  "St.  Louis,"  "St.  Paul," 
"Kroonland,"  and  "Finland,"  American 
built,  and  the  "New  York"  and  "Philadel- 
phia" (formerly  the  "Paris"),  British  built, 

*  Since  this  was  written,  the  whole  ownership  of  the 
Line  is  British. 

150 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

but  admitted  to  American  registry  by  the  spe- 
cial Act  of  1892. 

The  Americans  were  determined  to  own  and 
operate  ships.  They  would  have  preferred  to 
run  them  under  the  American  flag,  but  Con- 
gress— or  rather  a  fraction  in  the  House  of 
Representatives — compelled  them  to  use  the 
British  ensign!  The  commercial  and  finan- 
cial effect  of  this  was  that  the  American  in- 
vestors got  the  benefit  of  the  lower  wages 
and  cheaper  subsistence  of  foreign  seafaring 
labor.  The  vessels  were  American  as  to  own- 
ership only.  No  American  officer  or  seaman 
or  engineer  or  fireman  was  employed  in  them. 
They  added  nothing  to  the  sea  power  of  the 
country;  they  did  nothing  toward  forming  a 
nursery  of  American  sailors  to  be  in  readiness 
for  an  emergency.  On  the  contrary,  they  were 
a  constant  school  for  the  Naval  Reserve  of  a 
power  that  might  become  as  hostile  politically 
as  she  has  been  industrially  and  commercially 
from  the  beginning  of  our  existence  as  an  in- 
dependent nation.  None  of  these  great  facts 
appealed  to  the  narrow  and  demagogic  faction 
in  the  House.  They  could  see  in  it  nothing  but 
"a  trust,"  and  their  parrot-cry  resounded 
from  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  to  the  foot- 
hills of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Many  men,  hitherto  hopeful,  believe  that  any 
151 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

further  effort  to  restore  our  foreign  carrying 
trade  under  the  American  flag  must  be  in  vain. 
They  argue  that,  if  the  Houses  of  Representa- 
tives elected  in  1898  and  1900  would  not  pass 
a  Shipping  Bill,  none  can  ever  be  chosen  that 
will.  If  foreign  influences  and  alien  doctrines 
could  prevent  consideration  in  those  two 
Houses  of  bills  that  had  already  passed  the 
Senate  in  each  Congress,  those  influences  and 
those  doctrines  are  likely  to  maintain  their 
potency  indefinitely.  If  this  be  true,  the  Ameri- 
can flag  in  the  foreign  trade  is  doomed  to  utter 
extinction  within  a  few  years  on  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  and  its  survival  in  the  Pacific  is  a 
matter  of  extreme  doubt . 

A  strange  feature  of  this  contest  in  its  later 
stages  was  the  fact  that  the  confederated 
trades-unions  of  the  country  arranged  them- 
selves unanimously  against  the  American  and 
in  favor  of  the  alien  policy.  Trades-unionism 
is  founded  upon  a  doctrine  or  dogma  of  pro- 
tection more  sweeping  and  more  drastic  than 
any  other  ever  known.  They  cheerfully  main- 
tain and  sometimes  exultantly  proclaim  that, 
when  nothing  else  will  serve  to  accomplish 
their  ends,  violence  and  crime  become  logical 
and  legitimate  instrumentalities  for  enforce- 
ment of  their  protective  doctrine.  They  take 
no  account  of  the  fact  that  the  enactment  of  a 

152 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

favorable  shipping  law  would  open  new  and 
wide  avenues  of  remunerative  employment  for 
American  mechanics  that  are  now  closed. 
Their  motive  in  opposing  such  legislation 
seems  to  be  a  sort  of  blind,  groping  revenge 
against  a  few  ship-builders  and  ship-owners 
who  have  resisted  their  unreasonable  and  ruin- 
ous demands.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
leaders  and  managers  of  the  confederated 
trades-unions  are  all  foreigners. 

Naturally,  such  organizations,  so  led,  fall 
easy  dupes  to  the  wiles  of  the  alien  ship- 
owners, who  have  never  left  any  stone  un- 
turned or  any  expedient  untried  to  defeat  or 
smother  in  our  own  Congress  legislation  calcu- 
lated to  promote  and  extend  our  merchant 
marine. 

Whatever  the  distant  future  may  bring 
forth,  there  seems  to  be  at  this  time  and  for 
the  near  future  as  little  prospect  of  the  devel- 
opment of  a  new  and  purely  American  mer- 
chant marine  in  the  foreign  trade  as  there  has 
been  at  any  time  since  the  old  one  was  de- 
stroyed. 

Whatever  may  be  the  fate  of  the  American 
merchant  marine,  it  cannot  be  said  that  during 
the  campaign  for  its  resurrection,  lasting  al- 
most continuously  for  over  thirty  years,  Mr. 
Cramp  has  ever  withheld  from  its  advocacy 

153 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

any  part  of  his  knowledge,  study,  observation, 
and  experience;  and  if,  partly  through  the 
feebleness  of  our  own  patriotism  in  legislation 
and  administration,  and  partly  through  the 
superior  and  more  aggressive  patriotism  of 
foreign  ship-owners  and  ship-builders,  the 
American  merchant  marine  should  become  ex- 
tinct, it  will  not  be  his  fault. 


164 


CHAPTEE   IV 

Condition  of  Navy  after  Civil  War — Admiral  Case's 
Fleet—"  Virginius's"  Scare—"  Huron,"  "  Alert,"  and 
"  Ranger" — Secretary  Hunt — First  Advisory  Board — 
Secretary  Chandler — "  Puritan"  Class — Finished — 
Steel — Hon.  J.  B.  McCreary  and  Appropriation  Bill 
for  New  Navy — Members  of  Second  Naval  Advisory 
Board— Standard  for  Steel  for  New  Ships,  "Chi- 
cago," "Boston,"  "Atlanta,"  and  " Dolphin"— Sec- 
retary Whitney — Beginning  of  New  Navy,  by  Charles 
H.  Cramp—"  Baltimore,"  "  Charleston,"  and  "  York- 
town" — Purchase  of  Drawings  by  Navy  Department 
— Commodore  Walker — Premium  System — Mr.  Whit- 
ney's Views — Premiums  Paid — Attack  on  System- 
Secretary  Tracy — War  College  Paper — Classifying 
Bids. 

AFTEK  the  Civil  War  the  navy  was  neglected, 
being,  so  far  as  its  cruising  vessels  were  con- 
cerned, a  wooden  navy  of  not  only  obsolete 
types,  but  decayed  or  decaying  vessels,  which 
gradually  became  a  reproach  to  the  country 
and  a  laughing-stock  for  other  maritime 
powers. 

At  the  time  of  the  "Virginius  V  difficulty 
with  Spain,  which  occurred  about  five  years 
after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  a  "  grand 
fleet"  was  assembled  at  Key  West  under  the 
command  of  Eear-Admiral  Case.  This  fleet 

155 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

consisted  of  a  large  number  of  wooden  cruising 
steamers  of  various  types  and  classes,  all  obso- 
lete, many  of  them  unseaworthy,  and  all  in- 
capable of  meeting  an  up-to-date  ship  of  that 
period  (1874-75)  with  any  chance  of  success 
whatever.  To  these  wooden  hulks  were  added 
the  double-turreted  monitors  "Terror," 
'  *  Amphitrite, "  and  1 1  Monadnock, "  which 
were  built  at  the  navy-yards  of  wood,  and  a 
batch  of  old  worn-out  single-turreted  monitors. 
The  bottoms  of  the  wooden  monitors  were  so 
weakened  structurally  that,  whenever  an  effort 
was  made  to  wedge  up  the  spindles  so  that  the 
turrets  could  revolve,  the  bottom  went  down 
instead  of  the  turret  going  up,  the  latter  neces- 
sarily remaining  immovable.  Unquestionably 
any  one,  or  at  most  any  two,  of  our  first-class 
modern  battleships  at  this  writing,  1903,  could 
have  annihilated  and  sunk  the  entire  fleet  in 
two  or  three  hours,  although  it  consisted,  all 
types  and  classes  taken  together,  of  over 
forty  vessels.  This  was  an  object  lesson,  and  it 
to  some  extent  aroused  the  sensibilities  of  the 
country;  but  the  then  existing  administration 
of  the  Navy  Department  was  under  the  abso- 
lute control  of  the  navy-yard  rings,  and  all 
naval  work  of  every  description  was  done  in 
navy-yards.  The  "  Spanish  Scare,"  as  it  was 
called,  did,  however,  have  the  effect  of  spur- 

156 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

ring  Congress  to  provide  for  the  construction 
of  eight  (8)  new  vessels,  the  first  provided  for 
since  the  Civil  War.  Of  these,  three  were 
given  out  to  be  built  by  contract;  two,  the 
" Huron"  and  "Alert,"  small  iron  sloops-of- 
war  or  gun-vessels,  were  given  to  John  Roach 
and  built  at  his  works  at  Chester ;  and  another 
of  the  same  class,  the  "Ranger,"  was  given  to 
Harlan  &  Hollingsworth,  of  Wilmington,  and 
built  there.  The  other  five  were  built  in  navy- 
yards,  and  were  completed  at  different  periods 
between  1875  and  1879. 

With  this  exception,  nothing  whatever  was 
done  toward  increase  or  betterment  of  our 
naval  force  from  1865  until  1883.  However, 
in  1881,  General  Garfield,  having  been  elected 
President  the  preceding  year  and  inaugurated 
the  4th  of  March,  1881,  appointed  Judge  Wil- 
liam H.  Hunt,  of  Louisiana,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy.  General  Garfield  understood  the  naval 
needs  of  the  country,  referred  to  the  subject 
vigorously  in  his  inaugural,  and  quite  early  in 
his  administration,  or  about  a  month  before  he 
was  assassinated,  prompted  his  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  to  take  measures  looking  to  the 
modernization  of  our  national  marine.  The 
result  of  this  was  the  convening  of  a  board 
early  in  the  summer  of  1881,  of  which  Admiral 
John  Rodgers  was  President.  The  instruc- 

157 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

tions  of  this  board  were  to  investigate  the  ex- 
isting state  of  foreign  navies,  to  inquire  into 
the  immediate  needs  of  our  own,  and  to  formu- 
late a  ship-building  programme  on  modejn 
lines,  to  be  carried  out  as  soon  as  the  resources 
of  the  country  would  permit.  On  the  7th  of 
November,  1881,  this  board,  which  is  commonly 
known  to  history  as  the  "  First  Naval  Ad- 
visory Board,"  reported  in  accordance  with  its 
instructions.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to  go 
into  detail  with  regard  to  the  ship-building 
programme  which  they  recommended.  Suffice 
to  say,  that  not  one  of  the  ships  or  types  of 
ships  which  they  recommended  was  ever  act- 
ually built ;  but  their  deliberations  and  report 
attracted  general  public  attention,  caused  the 
subject  to  be  widely  and  patriotically,  although 
not  very  intelligently,  discussed  in  the  news- 
papers, so  that,  while  the  action  of  this  first 
Naval  Advisory  Board  did  not  produce  any 
actual  or  visible  results,  it  at  least  served  to 
popularize  the  subject  of  the  "New  Navy." 

In  1882,  Mr.  Hunt  was  appointed  Minister 
to  Eussia,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  Secretary- 
ship of  the  Navy  by  William  E.  Chandler,  of 
New  Hampshire.  Mr.  Chandler  was  a  vigor- 
ous, active  man,  and  lost  no  time  in  taking 
advantage  of  the  public  interest  which  had 
been  aroused.  The  result  of  the  further  in- 

158 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

vestigations  and  reports  which  he  caused  to 
be  made,  and  his  communications  to  the  Presi- 
dent, and  through  the  President  to  Congress 
based  thereon,  resulted  in  an  act,  approved 
March  3,  1883,  providing  for  the  construction 
of  four  new  cruising  vessels,  and  the  launch- 
ing and  engining  of  the  four  double-turreted 
monitors  "Puritan,"  "Terror,"  "Amphi- 
trite,"  and  "Monadnock,"  which  at  that  time 
had  been  on  the  stocks  about  eight  years. 
These  were  built  of  iron,  and  took  the  places 
in  the  Navy  Eegister  of  the  worthless  wooden 
monitors  of  the  same  names. 

On  the  first  lot  of  new  vessels  and  engines, 
the  bids  were  all  considerably  below  the  cost 
estimated  by  the  Advisory  Board  and  the  Bu- 
reaus, and  the  contracts  were  let  as  follows: 
For  the  four  vessels,  and  the  engines  of  the 
"Puritan,"  monitor,  to  Mr.  John  Eoach;  for 
the  engines  of  the  '  *  Terror, ' '  monitor,  to  Wil- 
liam Cramp  &  Sons;  and  for  the  "Amphi- 
trite,"  monitor,  to  the  Harlan  &  Hollingsworth 
Company,  of  Wilmington,  Delaware.  Work 
under  all  these  contracts  proceeded  with  com- 
mendable alacrity. 

Considerable  difficulty  was  at  first  experi- 
enced in  procuring  material  for  the  new  steel 
ships.  The  standard  established  by  law  was 
very  high,  and  the  methods  of  test  devised  by 

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MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

the  board,  to  say  the  least,  did  nothing  to 
ameliorate  the  rigors  of  the  statute.  The  steel- 
makers, however,  bravely  persevered,  and 
finally  overcame  their  difficulties  in  the  main, 
though  a  historical  resume  of  the  progress  of 
the  new  navy  would  be  incomplete  without  the 
statement  that  none  of  the  contractors,  under 
the  Act  of  March  2,  1883,  made  any  money, 
and  some  of  them  suffered  serious  loss;  and 
this  statement  applies  equally  to  the  manu- 
facturers who  made  the  steel  for  the  pioneer 
ships, — at  least  one  old  and  well  established 
concern  being  wrecked  by  the  difficulties  en- 
countered, while  others  were  embarrassed. 

The  year  1884  was  signalized  by  a  Presi- 
dential campaign  of  unusual  bitterness,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  cordiality  with  which  all 
parties  had  joined  hands  in  the  inception  of 
the  new  navy,  the  first  session  of  the  Forty- 
eighth  Congress  developed  what  for  a  time 
threatened  to  be  at  least  a  temporary  hiatus. 
But  wiser  counsels  at  length  prevailed,  and, 
though  no  additions  were  made  to  the  list  of 
new  ships  authorized,  sufficient  appropriations 
were  made  to  prevent  stoppage  of  work  on 
those  already  under  contract. 

The  results  of  the  year  1884  were  chiefly 
interesting  because  they  demonstrated,  after 
much  bitter  debate  and  heated  discussion,  that 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  cause  of  the  new  navy  had  acquired  im- 
petus sufficient  to  vanquish  the  party  passions 
of  even  so  violent  a  Presidential  campaign  as 
that  which  marked  that  year.  That  campaign 
over,  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  at  its  second 
session,  took  up  with  zeal  the  promotion  of 
the  new  navy,  and  the  act  approved  March  3, 
1885,  authorized  four  additional  vessels,  to- 
ward the  construction  of  which  $1,895,000  was 
appropriated  with  practical  unanimity.  The 
Act  of  March  3,  1885,  marked  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  new  navy.  Prior  to  that  time, 
the  legislative  practice  had  been  to  require 
separate  enactment  to  authorize  the  construc- 
tion of  new  vessels  for  the  navy.  In  this  case 
the  authorization  appeared  in  the  body  of  the 
regular  Naval  Appropriation  Bill,  and  that 
practice  has  been  followed  ever  since.  This 
innovation  was  debated  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  and  a  point  of  order  made  to  strike 
out  the  proposed  authorization.  The  point  of 
order  was  overruled  by  Hon.  James  B.  Mc- 
Creary,  a  Democratic  member  from  Kentucky, 
with  the  approval  of  Speaker  John  Gr.  Carlisle ; 
Mr.  McCreary  being  Chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  the  Whole  on  the  Naval  Bill.  Mr.  Mc- 
Creary ruled:  1st.  That  legislation  in  pursu- 
ance of  any  settled  or  established  policy  was 
germane  in  the  annual  appropriation  bill  which 

161  11 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

dealt  with  that  subject  matter.  2d.  That  the 
increase  of  the  navy  was  clearly  a  settled  and 
established  policy,  to  which  all  branches  of  the 
government  were  committed.  3d.  That  in  view 
of  that  fact  the  authorization  of  additional  ves- 
sels of  war  could  not  be  considered  new  legis- 
lation in  the  meaning  of  the  rules,  but  must  be 
regarded  as  progressive  legislation  in  a  direc- 
tion previously  sanctioned  by  Congress;  that 
therefore  the  authorization  of  new  ships  was 
germane  to  the  regular  naval  appropriation 
bill  for  each  year,  and  was  in  order. 

It  is  hard  to  overestimate  the  value  of  this 
ruling  to  the  interests  of  the  new  navy.  Every 
one  familiar  with  legislative  processes  knows 
the  advantage  which  appertains  to  the  "  right 
of  way"  enjoyed  by  a  regular  appropriation 
bill  as  compared  with  the  average  chances  of 
an  independent  measure.  These  advantages 
are  so  marked,  that  it  is  quite  proper  to  say 
that  Mr.  McCreary's  rule  on  this  point  was  of 
greater  importance  than  any  other  single  in- 
cident in  the  legislative  history  of  naval  recon- 
struction. In  the  Act  of  March  3,  1885,  ap- 
peared another  clause  prohibiting  the  repair 
of  any  existing  wooden  vessel  when  the  cost 
of  such  repair  should  exceed  20  per  cent,  upon 
the  whole  cost  of  such  vessel  entirely  new. 
This  clause  was  adopted  upon  the  recommen- 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

dation  of  Secretary  Chandler,  made  in  the 
previous  year;  its  obvious  object  being  to 
render  impossible  the  perpetuation  of  the  old 
and  obsolete  wooden  ships.  Its  effect  soon  be- 
came apparent  in  a  rapid  elimination  of  old 
wooden  vessels  from  the  navy,  until  by  1890 
only  sixteen  of  them  remained  on  the  active 
list,  and  nearly,  if  not  quite,  every  one  of  these 
was  then  in  her  last  commission.  It  is  im- 
possible to  overestimate  the  salutary  effects  of 
this  clause.  1st.  It  " cleared  the  decks"  of  a 
lot  of  obsolete  lumber.  2d.  It  stimulated  public 
opinion  to  demand  prompt  production  of  new 
and  modern  ships  to  take  the  places  of  the 
old  and  obsolete.  3d.  It  put  an  end  to  a  policy 
of  makeshifts  which  was  always  extravagant, 
often  wasteful,  and  sometimes  corrupt. 

The  building  of  the  four  pioneer  ships  in- 
volved several  new  departures.  The  Congress 
that  authorized  their  construction  and  made  an 
appropriation  toward  it,  also  made  provision 
for  creating  what  was  termed  a  second  ' '  Naval 
Advisory  Board,"  which  was  to  have  charge 
of  the  details  of  their  building.  By  this  ex- 
pedient Congress  hoped  to  avert  the  evils  of 
the  Bureau  system  on  the  one  hand,  and  to 
limit  the  one-man  power  of  the  Secretary  on 
the  other.  This  board  consisted  of  five  mem- 
bers, three  naval  officers  and  two  civilians,  to 

163 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

be  selected  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  Of 
the  two  civilians,  one  was  a  ship-builder,  the 
other  a  mechanical  engineer.  The  ship-builder 
was  Henry  Steers.  This  gentleman  was  a 
nephew  of  George  Steers,  a  somewhat  cele- 
brated naval  architect  in  his  time,  whose  prin- 
cipal achievement  was  the  design  of  the  yacht 
"America,"  which  won  the  cup  which  the 
English  have  struggled  ever  since  to  recapture. 
The  famous  steam-frigate  "Niagara,"  built  a 
short  time  before  the  war,  though  constructed 
in  a  navy-yard,  was  designed  by  Henry  Steers. 
During  the  paralysis  of  American  ship-build- 
ing which  followed  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Steers 
became  discouraged  at  the  outlook  and,  having 
a  considerable  fortune,  went  into  the  banking 
business. 

The  other  civilian  member,  the  mechanical 
engineer,  was  Miers  Coryell,  of  New  York. 
This  gentleman  was  connected  in  his  profes- 
sional capacity  with  the  Cromwell  Line  of 
steamships  plying  between  New  York  and  New 
Orleans.  He  had  shortly  before  the  time  under 
consideration  designed  an  engine  for  the 
"Louisiana"  of  that  line,  which  Mr.  Roach 
built,  involving  an  entirely  new  departure  in 
sea-going  engine  construction.  Perhaps  the 
most  concise  way  to  describe  this  engine  would 
be  to  say  that  it  represented  an  effort  to  intro- 

164 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

duce  the  walking-beam  of  a  side-wheel  river 
steamboat  into  the  engine  compartment  of  a 
screw  steamship.  The  advantage  claimed  for 
it  was  that  it  permitted  the  use  of  vertical 
cylinders  within  a  deck-height  not  sufficient  to 
admit  the  regular  type  of  vertical  inverted 
cylinders.  This  it  undoubtedly  did ;  but  there 
its  merit  stopped.  For  the  rest  it  was  cum- 
brous, complicated,  and  of  weight  exceedingly- 
disproportionate  to  its  power.  This  unspeak- 
able device  Mr.  Coryell  offered  to  the  Advisory 
Board,  and,  to  the  speechless  amazement  of  the 
engineering  world,  it  was  adopted  as  the  pro- 
pelling machinery  of  the  most  important  ship 
then  authorized  for  the  navy.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark  here  that  these  beam-engines  were  sub- 
sequently taken  out  of  the  "Chicago,"  and  a 
pair  of  vertical  inverted  or  slightly  inclined 
engines  of  the  usual  type  substituted.  And  it 
might  also  be  observed  that  this  work,  with 
some  alterations  in  the  hull,  was  done  in  the 
New  York  Navy- Yard  at  a  cost  of  $1,300,000 
as  against  an  original  contract  price  of  $889,- 
000  for  the  whole  ship  new ;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  cost  of  re-engining  and  overhauling  the 
"  Chicago"  in  a  navy-yard  was  40  per  cent, 
more  than  the  first  cost  of  the  new  ship  under 
contract  in  a  private  shipyard ! 

165 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

The  Navy  Bureaus  were  not  slow  to  discern 
what  the  creation  of  the  Advisory  Board 
meant  for  them.  At  first  they  tried  to  defeat 
it.  Finding  that  impossible,  two  of  the  Bureau 
chiefs  besought  the  Naval  Committees  of  the 
Senate  and  House  to  provide  that  at  least  one 
of  the  four  ships  be  built  in  a  navy-yard.  No 
member  of  the  Senate  committee  favored  this 
proposition,  and  but  two  members  of  the 
House  committee,  both  of  whom,  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say,  represented  navy-yard  dis- 
tricts and  danced  to  the  music  of  labor  agita- 
tors. Thus,  at  the  inception  of  the  new  navy 
the  navy-yard  snake  was  "scotched,"  if  not 
killed. 

When  the  contracts  and  specifications  were 
drawn  up  in  form,  two  facts  became  evident: 
One  was  that  the  knowledge  of  the  new  con- 
ditions of  naval  construction  possessed  by  the 
authorities  of  the  navy  itself  was  altogether 
academic;  and  the  other  was  that  neither 
naval  authorities  nor  civilians  interested  had 
any  adequate  idea  of  what  the  requirement  of 
the  law  in  regard  to  material  actually  signified. 
The  law  said  that  the  ships  must  be  built  of 
"steel,  of  domestic  manufacture,  having  a 
tensile  strength  of  60,000  pounds  to  the  square 
inch,  and  an  elongation  of  25  per  cent,  in  eight 
inches." 

166 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Verbally,  this  was  the  English  Admiralty 
standard  for  mild  steel  plates  and  shapes.  But 
the  English  had  an  elastic  system  of  inspection 
which  left  much  to  be  determined  by  the  judg- 
ment and  knowledge  of  the  inspector.  The 
system  adopted  by  our  earlier  inspectors  of 
material  was  rigid  as  a  rock  and  inelastic  as 
cast-iron.  The  letter  of  the  law,  not  the  spirit 
of  it,  was  their  guide.  These  requirements  and 
the  mode  of  enforcing  them  would  have  been 
drastic  had  the  mild-steel  industry  been  in  a 
flourishing  condition.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact 
it  had  not  been  developed  at  all  in  this  coun- 
try ;  so  they  were  formulating  crucial  require- 
ments for  the  product  of  an  industry  which  did 
not  exist.  The  production  of  mild  steel,  or  at 
least  its  use  in  naval  construction,  was  still  in 
the  experimental  stage  then,  even  in  England, 
its  native  home.  The  "Iris"  and  "Mer- 
cury," the  first  all-steel  ships  built  in  Eng- 
land, had  not  been  in  commission  more  than 
two  years,  when  the  requirements  for  our  new 
ships  were  formulated  by  the  naval  authori- 
ties and  embodied  in  an  Act  of  Congress. 

Bessemer  steel  was  produced  in  large  quan- 
tities here  at  the  time  for  making  rails  and 
tank-plates.  But  Bessemer  could  not  stand  the 
navy  tests.  Nothing  but  open-hearth  steel 
could  do  it,  and  at  the  time  when  bids  were 

167 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

asked  for  the  first  four  ships  there  was  not 
an  open-hearth  mill  in  the  country  that  could 
make  the  ingots  required  for  the  plates  and 
shapes  of  the  sizes  and  qualities  demanded. 
Still,  American  steel-makers  were  found  will- 
ing to  undertake  the  task,  though  the  sequel 
soon  proved  that  their  conceptions  of  what 
confronted  them  were  quite  vague.  When  one 
surveys  the  open-hearth  steel  industry  as  it 
exists  in  the  United  States  to-day  (1901), 
largely  exceeding  that  of  Great  Britain,  and 
greater  than  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world, 
exclusive  of  the  United  Kingdom,  put  together, 
it  seems  impossible  to  realize  that  it  is  all  the 
growth  of  a  score  of  years.  As  late  as  1887 
there  was  no  forging-mill  in  this  country  that 
could  forge  a  three-throw  crank-shaft  in  one 
piece,  and  the  "  Baltimore's"  crank-shafts  of 
that  description  had  to  be  imported  from  Whit- 
worth's  works  in  England. 

Such  were  the  conditions  which  confronted 
the  ship-builders  who  made  estimates  and 
offered  bids  for  the  construction  of  the  four 
pioneer  steel  ships  of  the  new  navy.  When 
the  bids  were  opened  early  in  July,  1883,  it 
became  apparent  that  the  views  of  bidders  as 
to  the  character  of  the  task  they  proposed  to 
undertake  were  quite  divergent.  To  avoid 
prolixity,  we  will  deal  only  with  the  "Chi- 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

cago,"  which  was,  in  fact,  the  representative 
ship.  For  that  vessel  there  were  but  two  bid- 
ders worth  considering, — Mr.  Cramp  and  Mr. 
Roach.  Mr.  Roach  bid  $889,000  for  the  hull 
and  machinery.  Mr.  Cramp  bid  a  little  over 
$1,000,000,  or  about  14  per  cent,  in  excess  of 
his  competitor.  As  the  sequel  proved,  Mr. 
Cramp,  conservative  as  his  bid  was,  or  as 
it  appeared  to  be,  underwent  no  misfortune 
in  failing  to  get  the  "Chicago"  at  $1,025,000. 
Whether  Mr.  Cramp  could  have  been  more 
successful  than  Mr.  Roach  was  in  creating 
the  new  openhearth  steel  industry  required 
to  produce  the  material  demanded  by  the 
law  and  the  specifications  need  not  be  dis- 
cussed. It  may,  however,  be  said  that  the 
excess  of  his  bid  over  that  of  Mr.  Roach  was 
due  wholly  to  his  misgivings  on  this  point; 
because  on  all  other  points  involved,  such  as 
experience,  skill,  and  eifciency  of  organiza- 
tion, he  had  some  advantage. 

Mr.  Roach  got  all  the  ships.  The  contracts 
were  signed  July  26,  1883.  The  keel  of  the 
"Chicago"  was  laid  December  5,  1883;  she 
was  launched  December  5,  1885,  only  fifty-two 
days  before  the  contract  date  for  completion, 
which  was  January  26, 1886.  Meantime  the  first 
of  the  ships,  the  despatch-boat  "Dolphin," 
had  ben  completed,  put  on  trial,  and  had  failed 

169 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  law.  Here  the 
evils  of  the  inflexible,  inelastic,  or  "cast-iron" 
form  of  contract  became  instantly  evident. 
The  Navy  Department  could  not  accept  the 
ship  under  those  conditions  without  violating 
the  law.  Mr.  Roach  thereupon  threw  up  his 
hands,  and  the  government,  as  provided  in  the 
contract,  had  to  take  possession  of  the  ships 
as  they  stood  in  his  shipyard  and  complete 
them  with  its  own  resources,  at  the  risk  and 
expense  of  Mr.  Roach  and  his  bondsmen.  This 
action  on  his  part  is  hard  to  understand  or 
explain.  He  was  perfectly  solvent.  Although, 
as  the  law  and  the  contract  stood,  the  Navy 
Department  could  not  accept  the  "Dolphin," 
in  view  of  her  deficiency  in  performance,  Con- 
gress was  soon  to  assemble,  and  Secretary 
Whitney  was  ready  to  ask  for  an  amendment 
or  modification  of  the  law  which  would  enable 
him  to  accept  the  ship  with  an  equitable  pen- 
alty for  her  deficiency,  which,  by  the  way,  was 
not  great.  It  was  said  at  the  time  that  Mr. 
Roach  acted  upon  the  advice  of  certain  politi- 
cal friends  holding  high  rank;  that  a  certain 
group  of  Republican  politicians  believed  that 
their  party  needed  a  martyr  just  at  that  junc- 
ture, and  they  thought  Mr.  Roach  would  make 
a  good  one.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  govern- 
ment finished  all  the  ships  in  the  Roach  yard, 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

and  the  " Chicago,"  contracted  for  July  26, 
1883,  was  ready  for  her  first  commission  the 
middle  of  April,  1889, — five  years  and  nearly 
nine  months  building.  We  have  dwelt  with 
some  prolixity  on  this  branch  of  the  subject 
for  two  reasons:  first,  because  it  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  most  important  epoch  in  our 
naval  history ;  and,  second,  because  the  errors, 
miscalculations,  and  consequent  disasters  it 
developed  became  themselves  of  very  great 
value  as  object  lessons  for  guidance  or  warn- 
ing in  subsequent  transactions. 

When  Mr.  Whitney  became  Secretary  in 
March,  1885,  he  found  ready  to  his  hand  au- 
thorization for  four  more  ships,  the  designs 
of  which  had  been  partially  worked  out  by  the 
Bureaus  during  the  previous  winter.  He,  how- 
ever, proceeded  slowly;  so  deliberately,  that 
the  contract  for  the  first  of  the  four  ships  built 
under  the  authorization  of  March  3,  1885,  and 
August  3, 1886,  was  not  signed  until  December 
17,  1886,  a  year  and  nine  months  after  he 
assumed  the  office.  This  delay  was  due  to  a 
variety  of  causes,  the  most  important  of  which 
are  interestingly  and  instructively  described 
by  Mr.  Cramp  himself  in  an  account  of  his 
personal  connection  with  the  transactions.  It 
may  be  premised  that  when  Mr.  Whitney  be- 
came Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  very  soon 

171 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

9 

sought  to  avail  himself  of  Mr.  Cramp's  ex- 
perience, professional  ability,  and  practical 
knowledge.  Mr.  Cramp  responded  in  the  same 
spirit  of  frankness  and  candor  as  that  in  which 
the  Secretary  invited  him.  There  was  no 
mincing  of  matters  in  any  direction.  Mr. 
Cramp  hewed  to  the  line  on  all  the  abuses  and 
shortcomings  of  the  old  regime,  and  he  also 
pointed  out  methods  by  which  they  could  be 
overcome  or,  at  least,  compelled  to  get  out  of 
the  way.  Mr.  Whitney  was  a  thorough  busi- 
ness man  and  an  able  lawyer.  Far  removed 
both  by  character  and  by  fortune  from  any 
possible  temptation,  Mr.  Whitney's  sole  ob- 
ject in  taking  the  navy  portfolio  was  to  pro- 
mote the  public  welfare,  and  thereby  add  lustre 
to  his  name. 

But  let  Mr.  Cramp  tell  his  own  story  in  his 
own  way. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  NEW  NAVY. 

"  The  practical  beginning  of  the  new  navy  occurred 
under  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Chandler,  and  while  he 
was  Secretary  of  the  Navy  the  '  Chicago,'  '  Boston/  '  At- 
lanta/ and  '  Dolphin'  were  constructed. 

"  The  hulls  of  these  vessels  had  been  designed  by  the 
Advisory  Board,  and  were  about  equal  to  any  vessels  con- 
structed abroad  at  that  time  so  far,  I  might  say,  as  the 
models  and  general  designs  were  concerned.  Their  outfit 
and  guns  were  not  fairly  up  to  the  prevailing  practice 

172 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

abroad,  and  their  engines  were  very  inefficient  and  com- 
monplace. They  were  not  designed  by  the  board,  but  were 
principally  the  designs  of  the  contractor.  The  '  Chicago' 
had  engines  of  quite  a  fantastic  design,  suggested  by  one 
of  the  members  in  the  board.  The  models  and  designs  of 
the  hulls,  as  compared  with  what  had  preceded  them  in 
the  Navy  Department  after  the  end  of  the  Civil  War, 
were  great  achievements  over  the  ridiculous  specimens  of 
the  ship-building  art  that  we  were  loaded  with  during  that 
time.  They  were  the  production  principally  of  Messrs. 
Steers  and  Fernald,  assisted  by  Mr.  Bowles,  and  were  up 
to  most  of  the  requirements  of  the  time. 

"  When  the  vessels  were  tried  under  the  following  Ad- 
ministration, that  is,  during  the  Secretaryship  of  Mr. 
Whitney,  it  was  found  that  the  power  of  the  engines  and 
the  consequent  speed  developed  were  not  up  to  the  re- 
quirements of  the  law,  although  it  might  be  said  that  they 
were  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  contract. 

"  There  was  some  considerable  delay  on  the  part  of  the 
Secretary,  Mr.  Whitney,  in  receiving  the  ships  from  the 
contractors  on  that  particular  account,  a  decision  having 
been  made  by  the  Attorney-General  that  vessels  contracted 
for  and  subsequently  not  coming  up  to  the  requirements 
and  not  in  full  accordance  with  the  law  were  worthless, 
and  would  not  be  accepted. 

"A  violent  uproar  pervaded  the  entire  country  at  that 
time  on  account  of  what  they  called  the  hesitating  attitude 
of  Mr.  Whitney. 

"  The  political  administration  of  the  government  having 
changed,  it  was  asserted  that  it  was  on  account  of  the 
politics  of  the  contractor  that  the  vessels  had  not  been 
accepted.  Among  the  people  who  argued  thus,  all  con- 
siderations of  contract  requirements  of  law  were  entirely 
ignored,  and  Mr.  Whitney  received  untold  denunciations 

173 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

from  these  sources;  but  he  was  one  of  those  men  whom 
adverse  criticisms  as  to  what  he  had  done  never  disturb 
in  the  slightest  degree. 

"  Mr.  Whitney  finally  accepted  the  vessels  conditionally, 
after  more  or  less  contention  which  consumed  some  little 
time.  But  no  more  unfair  denunciation  or  criticism  of  the 
actions  and  efforts  of  any  man  ever  occurred  than  fell  to 
his  lot  at  that  time. 

"  The  second  lot  of  vessels  was  given  out  by  Mr.  Whit- 
ney, who  succeeded  Mr.  Chandler.  Two  of  these  vessels 
were  built  on  plans  provided  by  Mr.  Whitney,  and  two 
were  on  modified  plans  of  Mr.  Chandler. 

"  In  compliance  with  the  provisions  of  the  act  which 
authorized  the  '  Secretary  to  prepare  drawings/  Mr. 
Whitney  purchased  from  Armstrong  the  drawings  that 
had  been  prepared  for  the  Spanish  government,  and  the 
drawings  of  the  'Naniwa  Khan/  which  ship  they  had 
built  for  Japan.  These  two  vessels  became  the  '  Baltimore* 
and  '  Charleston.'  Cruiser  No.  1  of  Mr.  Chandler's  plans 
was  not  given  out;  as  the  bids  were  above  the  limitation 
price,  the  smaller  cruiser  was  given  out  under  modified 
conditions.  This  vessel  became  the  '  Yorktown.' 

"Before  the  advertisement  was  printed,  Mr.  Whitney 
invited  all  of  the  expectant  bidders  to  examine  the  plans 
and  specifications  which  he  had  purchased,  and  without 
exception  all  recorded  their  indorsement,  and  some  in  ex- 
travagant terms.  After  Mr.  Whitney's  retirement,  the 
contractor  who  had  indorsed  them  in  the  most  extravagant 
manner  was  the  first  and  only  one  to  find  fault. 

"We  bid  on  all  the  vessels  and  in  accordance  with  the 
conditions  of  the  advertisement  with  the  exception  of  that 
of  the  '  Yorktown.'  On  that  vessel  we  bid  on  the  govern- 
ment designs,  and  designs  of  our  own  which  embodied  a 


174 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

proposition  to  install  the  first  triple-expansion  engines  in 
the  navy.  Our  bid  for  the  'Newark'  being  higher  than 
the  government  allowance,  we  did  not  get  her.  As  I  said 
before,  she  was  not  awarded. 

"  When  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Whitney  had  purchased 
abroad  the  drawings  that  I  have  already  referred  to, — the 
drawings  of  the  vessels  that  ultimately  came  to  be  the 
'  Baltimore'  and  '  Charleston,' — he  was  fiercely  assailed  by 
certain  parties  in  the  Navy  Department,  while  certain 
others  indorsed  his  action ;  but  the  Bureau  of  Construction 
and  Repair  and  the  Bureau  of  Steam  Engineering  were 
conspicuous  in  their  opposition.  The  most  conspicuous  in 
support  of  the  Secretary  was  Commodore  Walker.  We 
received  our  share  of  adverse  criticism  because  we  had 
indorsed  the  steps  he  had  taken. 

"  The  design  of  the  '  Baltimore'  and  the  l  Charleston' 
represented  the  best  types  of  vessels  that  were  constructed 
up  to  that  time.  They  were  far  in  advance  of  any  other 
war-ships  of  that  period,  and  in  fact  they  really  formed 
the  basis  of  future  constructions  in  the  world's  navies. 

"It  was  more  by  good  luck  than  by  good  management 
that  Mr.  Whitney  secured  those  particular  drawings  which 
proved  to  be  of  such  superior  character.  They  were  of- 
fered to  our  Naval  Attache,  who  happened  to  be  abroad 
in  England  at  that  time,  by  the  Armstrong  Company. 
They  had  designed  the  two  vessels  which  subsequently  be- 
came the  '  Baltimore'  and  '  Charleston'  of  our  navy.  The 
design  of  the  '  Baltimore'  was  made  in  competition  with 
Thompson  for  the  Spanish  government.  For  certain  rea- 
sons, which  I  need  not  mention  here,  the  designs  of  Thomp- 
son were  accepted  and  the  contract  for  the  construction  of 
the  ship  was  awarded  to  them.  She  was  known  as  the 
'  Reina  Regente.'  It  was  at  this  point  that  the  Armstrongs 
presented  their  rejected  drawing  and  the  drawings  for  the 

175 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

'  Naniwa  Khan'  for  sale  to  our  Naval  Attache*  there.  They 
had  already  built  two  vessels  like  the  '  Naniwa  Khan'  for 
the  Japanese  navy.  These  vessels  were  looked  upon  by 
the  experts  of  the  naval  world  as  being  the  two  best 
specimens  of  their  type  that  had  ever  been  built  up  to 
that  time. 

"  At  the  time  the  sale  was  made,  the  Armstrongs,  know- 
ing nothing  of  the  capabilities  of  this  country  and  having, 
like  most  British  ship-builders  and  many  Americans  at 
that  time,  a  very  mean  and  very  poor  opinion  of  every 
ship-builder  in  this  country,  they  suggested  that,  in  award- 
ing the  contract,  a  condition  should  be  inserted  providing 
for  the  payment  of  superintendents  whom  they  should 
send  over  from  their  works  to  superintend  the  building, 
and  designing  of  the  engines,  and  operating  them  after 
their  completion.  Considering  what  to  them  appeared  a 
barbarian  incapacity  on  our  part,  they  were  loath  to  risk 
their  reputation  without  protection. 

"  We  accepted  the  condition  at  the  time,  anxious  to  get 
the  contracts,  feeling  sure  that  it  would  never  be  needed, 
and  that  we  could  prevail  upon  Mr.  Whitney  and  the 
naval  people  as  to  the  impropriety  of  it. 

"After  the  contract  was  awarded  and  the  work  was 
started,  Mr.  Whitney  concluded  that,  notwithstanding  the 
provision  was  there,  he  would  never  use  it,  and  never 
require  it  of  us. 

"In  fact,  we  made  a  great  many  improvements  in  the 
boilers  of  the  '  Baltimore,'  and  some  improvements  in  the 
engines.  These  improvements  in  the  boilers  of  the  '  Balti- 
more' formed  the  basis  and  the  standard  of  construction  of 
all  the  Scotch  boilers  that  have  been  built  for  the  navy 
since  that  time. 

"  At  the  beginning  of  our  work  on  these  ships  we  did 
pot  get  much  co-operation  on  the  part  of  some  of  the 

176 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Bureaus,  in  view  of  the  foreign  character  of  most  of  the 
work,  and  in  view,  too,  of  the  fact  that  some  of  it  was 
of  our  own,  both  being  equally  obnoxious,  as  they  origi- 
nated outside  of  the  Bureaus.  We  met  with  a  great  deal 
of  opposition  at  the  beginning  in  getting  up  the  specifi- 
cations and  plans. 

"  Certain  subsequent  changes  in  the  personnel  that  were 
made  in  the  Bureau  of  Steam  Engineering — Mr.  Melville 
having  been  placed  at  the  head  of  it — modified  the  situa- 
tion, and  he  joined  the  Secretary  in  his  efforts  with  his 
usual  vigor.  A  part  of  the  trouble  I  refer  to  in  getting 
a  start  on  the  work  was  owing  to  lack  of  experience  and 
knowledge  of  contract  and  specification  requirements 
which  were  placed  in  the  Law  Department  of  the  navy 
for  the  first  time. 

"  The  Law  Department  of  the  navy  at  that  time  was 
beginning  to  make  a  show,  and  to  them,  under  some  mis- 
take, was  delegated  the  getting  up  of  the  contracts  and 
specifications.  It  was  here  where  my  trouble  commenced. 
The  Law  Department  endeavored  to  provide  for  every- 
thing that  could  possibly  occur,  or  everything  that  they 
thought  would  occur,  and  for  many  matters  that  could  not 
be  considered  at  all;  and  the  specifications  soon  began  to 
assume  enormous  proportions,  being  filled  with  impossible 
requirements. 

fl  I  got  over  most  of  these  difficulties  and  minor  details 
which  they  intended  to  lug  into  the  contract  by  having 
introduced  at  the  termination  of  certain  paragraphs  of 
the  specifications,  where  explanations  were  unsatisfactory, 
misleading,  and  inadequate,  a  clause  using  the  words :  '  As 
the  Department  may  determine.' 

{( My  previous  experience  with  the  Navy  Department 
and  naval  officials  generally  led  me  to  believe  that  I  could 
always  make  out  my  case  when  it  was  right. 

177 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

"  At  the  beginning  of  the  work,  Mr.  Whitney  notified 
us  that  he  considered  himself  and  all  the  naval  officials 
as  partners  and  associates  of  the  contractor,  each  mutually 
interested  and  determined  to  get  the  best  vessel  they  could 
for  the  navy.  He  considered  that  the  government  ought 
to  co-operate  with  the  contractors,  and  that  the  contractors 
should  in  turn  co-operate  with  the  government;  that  the 
inspector  was  not  an  enemy,  and  never  once  considered 
him  so.  He  considered  it  was  his  duty  to  afford  all  en- 
couragement possible  in  aiding  the  contractors  to  carry 
out  the  plans.  During  the  close  of  a  conversation  which 
I  had  with  Mr.  Whitney  at  one  time  during  that  period, 
he  said  to  me :  '  I  want  you  to  inform  me  of  what  you 
see  going  wrong,  no  matter  where  the  fault  originated; 
and  I  will  hold  you  personally  responsible  in  every  case 
where  you  neglect  to  inform  me  whenever  anything  is  not 
going  right  or  not  being  done  right,  whether  it  be  your 
own  fault  or  that  of  the  government.' 

"  Coming  back  to  the  ships  and  referring  to  the  pur- 
chasing of  the  drawings  abroad:  At  the  time  that  Mr. 
Whitney  bought  those  drawings,  it  occurred  to  us  that 
the  triple-expansion  engine  which  was  being  developed  by 
Kirk  was  a  marked  advance  over  the  plain  compound  of 
Elder;  and  I  suggested  to  Mr.  Whitney  the  propriety  of 
buying  plans  of  triple-expansion  engines  from  us  for  the 
smaller  ship  which  afterward  was  the  '  Yorktown.'  Of 
course  this  was  before  the  ships  were  given  out.  He 
told  us  to  go  ahead.  We  went  to  work  and  made  the 
drawings,  which  we  thought  were  much  in  advance  of 
anything  of  that  kind  in  existence,  and  we  fully  expected 
that  they  would  be  bought  by  Mr.  Whitney,  as  he  had 
purchased  the  foreign  drawings.  When  the  drawings  were 
finished,  I  took  them  down  to  Washington  and  showed 
them  to  him.  He  was  at  this  time  so  disgusted  with  and 

178 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

tired  of  the  great  uproar  that  had  been  made  about  pur- 
chasing drawings  abroad,  that  he  did  not  say  much  about 
it.  He  did  not  decline,  however,  to  buy  them;  but,  find- 
ing that  he  was  not  enthusiastic,  I  accepted  promptly  the 
situation,  and  simply  exhibited  them  to  him  as  something 
we  had  gotten  up.  I  then  returned  home  and  threw  them 
aside,  and  prepared  for  the  coming  opening  of  the  bids 
which  had  been  advertised  for  in  the  papers.  The  day 
before  the  bids  were  to  be  opened,  I  suddenly  conceived 
the  idea  of  giving  the  triple-expansion  plans  another 
chance  by  making  an  alternative  bid  on  the  'Yorktown,' 
embodying  engines  of  the  triple-expansion  type.  So  I 
rushed  back  to  Philadelphia,  got  the  drawings  that  we 
had  previously  prepared,  and  returned  to  Washington  in 
time  to  put  them  in  with  our  other  bid  for  the  '  Yorktown.' 
As  we  were  responsible  for  the  horse-power,  weight,  etc., 
we  felt  that  we  could  get  it  a  great  deal  better,  and  more 
satisfactory  results  all  around,  with  triple-expansion  en- 
gines than  with  uncertain  and  unknown  performance  of 
the  Bureau  drawings.  Our  bid  being  lowest  on  triple- 
expansion  engines,  being  the  only  one,  the  contract  was 
awarded  to  us. 

"  The  success  of  these  engines  in  the  '  Yorktown'  was 
of  a  highly  marked  character,  and  it  emboldened  us  to 
introduce  them  in  our  bids  for  the  new  lot  of  construc- 
tion that  had  been  advertised  for. 

"It  was  at  this  time  the  New  York  Herald  published 
in  large  type  a  paper  of  mine  on  the  triple-expansion 
engine,  and  Commodore  Walker  had  it  printed  in  the 
Reports  of  the  Information  Bureau.  Walker  was  always 
in  the  front  when  a  good  thing  was  to  be  promoted,  and 
was  conspicuous  in  his  co-operation  with  Mr.  Whitney. 

"When  the  ships  that  followed  the  'Baltimore'  were 
given  out,  we  secured  the  contracts  for  the  construction  of 

179 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

the  '  Philadelphia'  and  '  Newark.'  We  bid  on  the  '  New- 
ark' a  second  time.  A  great  deal  of  unpleasant  feeling 
was  manifested  on  the  part  of  the  Bureau  of  Construc- 
tion when  we  failed  to  bid  within  the  limitation  price  at 
the  time  she  was  first  advertised.  We  introduced  in  her, 
however,  the  triple-expansion  engine  in  place  of  the  De- 
partment's. We  also  bid  on  *  Philadelphia'  with  hull 
duplicate  of  the  '  Baltimore,'  with  triple-expansion  engines 
of  the  same  type  as  the  '  Yorktown.' 

"  What  ultimately  became  the  '  San  Francisco'  was 
given  to  Mr.  Scott,  who  bid  on  the  basis  of  '  Baltimore's' 
plans  of  hull  with  the  '  Baltimore's'  engines.  After  the 
contract  was  awarded  to  him,  he  agreed  to  substitute  the 
'  Newark's'  hull .  plans  in  place  of  the  '  Baltimore'  type 
with  a  design  of  engine  that  the  Bureau  of  Steam  En- 
gineering had  made  at  our  shipyard  by  some  of  their 
officers  who  were  on  duty  there  and  certain  of  our 
draughtsmen, — a  type  of  engine  that  they  considered  to  be 
an  improvement  over  the  'Baltimore's'  engines.  The 
Department  granted  this  substitution. 

"  The  Bureaus  that  had  denounced  Mr.  Whitney  for 
buying  foreign  drawings  had  been  spending  money  very 
lavishly  for  some  years  in  securing  plans  abroad.  The 
Bureau  of  Steam  Engineering  and  the  Bureau  of  Con- 
struction were  spending  about  $100,000  a  year  in  the 
purchase  of  drawings. 

"  The  hull  of  the  '  Yorktown,'  which  was  designed  by 
the  Bureau,  was  based  on  the  design  of  the  '  Archer'  class. 

"  The  '  Newark,'  which  was  also  designed  by  the  Bureau 
at  that  time,  was  based  on  the  design  of  the  'Mersey' 
class  as  to  specifications  and  general  construction,  while 
the  model  was  not  of  that  class. 

"  The  Bureau  of  Engineering,  which  had  been  laboring 
for  some  years  with  a  view  to  a  consolidation  of  all  of 

180 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  constructive  departments  of  the  navy, — hulls,  engines, 
guns, — under  their  Bureau,  bought  abroad  entire  plans 
of  ships,  hulls,  and  engines  combined.  I  saw  a  complete 
set  of  plans  and  drawings  of  the  '  Polyphemus,'  which 
was  designed  as  a  sort  of  ram  by  the  British  government, 
and  also  the  two  vessels  '  Warspite'  and  '  Imperieuse/ 
rather  of  a  fantastic  design,  which  the  British  govern- 
ment was  building.  These  vessels  were  somewhat  of  a 
departure  from  previous  vessels  constructed  in  the  British 
navy  and  were  very  crude.  They  were  designed  by  some 
one  in  England  who  was  not  up  to  the  capabilities  of  his 
fellow-constructors  there.  They  were  not  duplicated. 
They  are  the  poorest  specimens  of  ships  in  the  British 
navy. 

"  Mr.  Whitney  was  exceedingly  fortunate  in  the  officer 
whom  he  found  at  the  head  of  the  most  important  Bureau. 
This  was  Commodore  John  G.  Walker,  then  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Navigation,  and  unquestionably  the  ablest  and 
most  forceful  man  of  his  time  in  the  navy.  American 
naval  officers,  as  a  rule,  are  able  men  in  the  professional 
sense;  but  Walker,  while  equal  to  the  very  best  and 
superior  to  most  of  them  in  that  regard,  possesesd  an 
additional  fund  of  tact,  equipment,  and  energy  in  purely 
administrative  directions  seldom  equalled  and  never  sur- 
passed in  the  history  of  our  navy.  He  had  enjoyed,  also, 
considerable  experience  in  civic  responsibility,  having  been 
for  a  considerable  period  identified  with  the  management 
of  an  important  railway  corporation  prior  to  his  appoint- 
ment as  Chief  of  the  Bureau  in  1881.  His  term  of  four 
years  was  about  to  expire  when  Mr.  Whitney  assumed 
office,  but  at  the  instance  of  the  latter  he  was  immediately 
reappointed,  and  served  through  the  entire  term  until  1889. 
Commodore  Walker  was  exactly  the  man  for  the  place, 
which  was  that  of  chief  adviser  to  the  Secretary.  To  a 

181 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

perfect  acquaintance  with  the  personnel  of  the  service, 
he  joined  a  freedom  from  narrow  predilections  and  selfish 
aims  seldom  found  in  any  veteran  regular  officer  of  any 
branch,  and  his  sense  of  the  material  needs  of  the  navy 
was  broad,  keen,  and  practical.  Moreover,  in  mental  char- 
acter and  manly  temperament  he  was  congenial  to  Mr. 
Whitney.  For  these  reasons,  and  imbued  with  a  common 
purpose,  Commodore  Walker  and  the  Secretary  coalesced 
from  the  first  day  of  their  association,  and  remained  in 
the  most  perfect  accord  throughout  the  four  most  im- 
portant years  in  the  history  of  the  new  navy.  On  some 
occasions  it  happened  that  Walker  sustained  the  Secre- 
tary and  helped  him  carry  out  most  important  reforms 
and  policies  of  progress  against  powerful  opposition  in 
the  navy  itself  and  in  the  Department. 

"  Commodore  Walker's  influence  among  Senators  and 
Representatives  in  Congress,  built  up  during  his  first  four 
years  in  the  Bureau,  was  superior  to  that  of  any  other 
officer,  and  occasionally  it  proved  equal  to  that  of  a  con- 
siderable majority  of  them  combined.  His  powers  were 
uniformly  exerted  in  behalf  of  the  readiest  and  most 
practical  methods  of  increasing  the  navy  in  number,  ex- 
cellence, and  force  of  its  ships  and  in  organization  and 
training  of  its  personnel.  Against  all  efforts  to  perpetuate 
the  obsolete,  cumbrous,  and  abnormal  navy-yard  system 
of  construction  he  set  his  face  with  all  the  strength  and 
resolution  he  possessed.  For  detailed  discussion  of  the 
questions  involved  in  this  phase  of  the  subject,  neither  the 
limitations  of  space  nor  the  patience  of  scientific  readers 
offer  opportunity.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  antique,  red- 
tape-ridden  and  muddle-brained  policy  of  trying  to  build 
new  ships  of  the  modern  type  under  military  methods 
was  in  the  main  abandoned. 

"  Commodore  Walker  also  ably  supported  Mr.  Whit- 
182 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

ney's  policy  of  purchasing  modern  designs  and  plans  of 
hulls  and  machinery  abroad,  a  policy  which  a  large  and 
influential  group  of  naval  officers  vehemently  opposed. 
On  the  whole,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  in  the  all- 
round  importance  of  his  usefulness  to  the  new  navy, 
Commodore  Walker  fairly  divided  honors  with  Mr.  Whit- 
ney himself. 

"  That  Walker's  all-round  ability  and  energy  were 
understood  and  appreciated  by  others  besides  Secretary 
Whitney  is  abundantly  attested  by  the  fact  that  upon 
his  retirement  in  1897,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  he  was 
appointed  chairman  or  president  of  the  Isthmian  Canal 
Commission,  which  he  still  holds  at  this  writing  (1903), 
in  his  seventieth  year.  Taking  his  career  altogether  from 
graduation  at  the  Naval  Academy  in  1856;  then  through 
the  Civil  War,  in  which  he  played  a  distinguished  part; 
then  for  some  time  in  the  civic  pursuits  already  men- 
tioned; then  as  Chief  of  Bureau  and  principal  adviser 
to  the  Secretary  for  eight  years;  then  as  Admiral  in  com- 
mand of  the  'White  Squadron';  and,  finally,  as  president 
of  the  Canal  Commission,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  few  officers 
in  our  navy  have  done  more  important  public  service  than 
John  G.  Walker." 

The  most  important  matter  adjusted  in  the 
conferences  of  Mr.  Cramp  with  Mr.  Whitney 
was  the  arrangement  of  the  form  of  contract 
so  that  it  might  be,  within  a  narrow  margin, 
flexible  or  elastic.  The  operation  of  other  con- 
tracts had  clearly  shown  the  need  of  such 
modification,  and  a  solution  was  reached  with- 
out difficulty,  though  not  without  much  deliber- 
ation. 

183 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

The  matter  under  immediate  consideration 
was  the  form  of  contract  for  the  "Baltimore." 
The  guarantee  to  be  required  was  that  her  en- 
gines should  develop  a  mean  of  9000  collective 
indicated  horse-power  for  four  consecutive 
hours,  a  lower  or  minimum  limit  being  also 
prescribed.  They  had  before  them  the  form 
of  contract  for  the  Roach  ships. 

Mr.  Cramp  remarked  that  the  guarantee  for 
the  "Baltimore"  was  9000  indicated  horse 
power. 

"Suppose,  Mr.  Secretary,"  he  said,  "that 
we  should  use  that  form  of  contract,  and  the 
engines  of  the  *  Baltimore '  should  develop  only 
8999  indicated  horse-power,  what  could  you 
do?" 

"Well,  Mr.  Cramp,  under  this  form  of  con- 
tract, construed  according  to  law,  I  could  not 
accept  her.  There  ought  to  be  a  way  of  avert- 
ing such  a  possibility.  What  can  you  sug- 
gest?" 

Mr.  Cramp  then  proposed  to  apply  to  our 
naval  contracts  the  principle  often  recognized 
in  agreements  for  construction  of  merchant 
steamships  and  also  in  the  naval  contracts  of 
foreign  governments,  namely,  a  sliding  scale 
of  penalties  for  deficiency  in  performance,  with 
a  minimum  limit ;  and,  in  case  the  ship  should 

prove  unable  to  reach  the  minimum  limit  after 

184 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

a  fair  number  of  trials,  the  owner  (if  a  mer- 
chant vessel)  or  the  government  (if  a  naval 
ship)  might  at  will  either  reject  her  altogether 
or  accept  her  under  a  supplemental  agreement. 
Mr.  Cramp  also  explained  the  usual  basis  upon 
which  penalties  for  deficiency  were  computed 
and  imposed  in  our  own  merchant  practice  and 
in  foreign  navies. 

The  Secretary  assented  to  this  suggestion, 
and  pronounced  it  the  only  business-like  plan 
for  solution  of  the  difficulty  he  had  heard.  But 
he  said  that,  in  order  to  make  the  arrangement 
perfectly  equitable,  there  should  be  a  premium 
for  excess  over  and  above  guaranteed  per- 
formance, corresponding  to  or  commensurate 
with  the  penalty  for  deficiency. 

These  discussions  led  to  the  adoption  of 
what  became  known  as  the  premium  system. 
Some  time  afterward,  when  Mr.  Whitney  was 
before  the  Naval  Committee,  the  subject  came 
up,  and  one  member  referred  to  it  as  "  a  bonus 
to  contractors. ' ' 

"If  you  use  the  word  'bonus'  in  the  sense 
of  a  gift, ' '  said  the  Secretary,  "it  is  a  misap- 
prehension. It  is  part  of  an  equitable  trans- 
action. Performance  is  a  prime  element  of 
value  in  a  ship-of-war.  We  stipulate  in  our 
contracts  for  a  specific  performance.  We  con- 
sider the  guaranteed  performance  as  repre- 

185 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

senting  the  normal  value  of  the  ship.  If  upon 
trial  the  performance  falls  below  the  normal, 
it  reduces  the  value  of  the  ship  to  that  extent, 
and  we  meet  it  with  proportionate  penalties 
deducted  from  the  contract  price.  But  if  upon 
trial  the  performance  exceeds  the  normal,  the 
value  of  the  ship  is  increased,  and  we  propose 
to  meet  such  cases  with  premium  proportion- 
ate to  the  excess  of  guaranteed  performance. 
In  either  case  we  simply  pay  for  as  good  a  ship 
as  we  get,  be  it  above  or  below  the  normal.  It 
is  a  poor  rule  that  won't  work  both  ways." 

Mr.  Whitney's  terse  observations  embodied 
the  whole  logic  of  the  penalty  and  premium 
system,  and  his  argument  was  so  conclusive 
that  no  further  discussion  seemed  to  be  de- 
sired. The  system  remained  in  effect  nearly 
ten  years,  and  was  applied  to  every  vessel  built 
for  the  new  navy  up  to  and  including  the 
"Iowa"  and  "Brooklyn."  Every  ship  built 
by  Mr.  Cramp  earned  a  premium  for  excess  of 
either  indicated  horse-power  or  speed.  None 
of  his  ships  exhibited  deficiency.  The  list  is 
rather  interesting,  because  it  exhibits  more 
graphically  than  any  other  method  could  do 
the  actual  extent  to  which  the  contract  require- 
ment was  exceeded  in  each  case 


186 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

"  Yorktown"  (horse-power)   $39,825.00 

"  Baltimore"    (horse-power)    106,441.00 

"  Newark"  (horse-power)   36,857.00 

"  Philadelphia"  (speed) 100,000.00 

"  New  York"  (speed)   200,000.00 

"Columbia"  (speed)    300,000.00 

"  Minneapolis"  (speed)   414,600.00 

"Indiana"    (speed)    50,000.00 

"  Massachusetts"  (speed)    100,000.00 

"Iowa"   (speed)    217,420.00 

"Brooklyn"  (speed)    350,000.00 


$1,915,143.00 

When  the  administration  of  Mr.  Whitney 
ended  in  March,  1889,  he  left  over  to  his  suc- 
cessor the  most  important  work  in  the  way 
of  new  departure  yet  attempted.  Of  his  suc- 
cessor, General  B.  F.  Tracy,  of  New  York,  Mr. 
Cramp,  speaking  of  the  man  and  the  task  be- 
fore him,  says : 

"  Secretary  Tracy  entered  the  Navy  Department  under 
very  favorable  auspices.  He  was  himself  free  from  en- 
tanglements, political  or  personal.  His  previous  public 
life,  aside  from  service  as  a  colonel  and  brigadier-general 
in  the  Civil  War,  had  been  confined  to  legal  and  judicial 
positions,  his  highest  post  having  been  that  of  Justice 
of  the  New  York  Court  of  Appeals,  the  Court  of  last 
resort.  To  the  affairs  of  the  Navy  Department  in  gen- 
eral he  applied  the  judicial  habits  formed  on  the  Bench. 
In  technical  matters,  he  enjoyed  at  the  outset  of  his  ad- 
ministration the  continuing  services  of  Commodore — now 

187 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

become  Rear-Admiral — Walker,  whose  term  extended  till 
December,  1889;  and  who,  by  the  way,  had  the  honor, 
after  eight  years  of  service  as  Chief  of  Bureau,  to  com- 
mand the  first  American  squadron  of  modern  war-ships 
known  to  history  as  '  the  White  Squadron.' 

"  With  regard  to  the  task  of  rebuilding  the  navy,  which 
was  then,  and  still  is,  the  chief  responsibility  of  a  Secre- 
tary, Mr.  Tracy  had  but  to  carry  on  a  programme  already 
well  begun.  He  was  not,  however,  content  with  following 
simply  the  lines  laid  out  before  him.  He  at  once  pro- 
ceeded to  lengthen  them  and  to  widen  their  scope.  Under 
his  administration  was  begun  and  carried  out  the  '  battle- 
ship and  armored  cruiser  programme'  which  gave  to  the 
navy  the  fleet  that  made  our  success  in  the  Spanish  War 
so  swift  and  so  easy. 

"  The  distinguishing  traits  of  Tracy's  administration 
were  the  unbroken  co-operation  between  the  executive  and 
legislative  branches  of  the  government  in  everything  per- 
taining to  the  new  navy,  and  the  remarkable  progress 
made  in  size,  power,  speed,  and  other  prime  qualities  of 
war-ships,  together  with  the  almost  incredible  develop- 
ment of  all  contributory  industries.  In  this  connection 
should  also  be  mentioned  the  constant  and  powerful  sup- 
port which  President  Harrison  gave  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  in  every  possible  manner,  from  first  to  last. 

"  In  his  methods  of  considering  propositions  laid  be- 
fore him,  Mr.  Tracy  was  always  deliberate  and  cautious; 
but  in  executing  a  programme  once  resolved  upon,  he 
was  equally  prompt  and  peremptory.  He  never  deter- 
mined to  begin  anything  until  he  could  foresee  the  end  of 
it,  and  when  he  had  reached  a  conclusion  on  that  basis 
he  was  wont  to  push  practical  operations  with  untiring 
energy.  In  some  respects,  when  giving  preliminary  con- 

188 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

sideration  to  subjects,  he  may  have  been  less  self-reliant 
or  more  disposed  to  feel  the  influence  of  his  military  sub- 
ordinates than  Mr.  Whitney  was;  but  in  energy  of  execu- 
tion he  had  no  superior.  As  a  general  consequence,  Mr. 
Tracy's  four  years  in  the  Navy  Department  made  a  his- 
tory that  compares  favorably  with  that  of  any  predecessor 
from  the  foundation  of  the  Department  itself  in  1797  to 
his  own  time. 

"  One  of  the  first  and  most  important  matters  that 
came  before  Secretary  Tracy  was  the  design  of  the 
armored  cruiser  '  New  York/  the  appropriation  for  its 
construction  having  been  one  of  the  last  acts  of  the 
Congress  that  went  out  with  Mr.  Whitney.  This  ship 
was  intended  to  be  an  echo  to  the  '  Blake'  and  '  Blen- 
heim' type  of  protected  cruisers,  and  they  were  the 
largest  heretofore  constructed.  The  question  was  asked 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  head  of  one  of  the  Bureaus, 
during  the  discussion  of  the  details  of  the  ship,  if  there 
could  not  be  an  improvement  in  the  salient  features  of 
the  design  over  the  '  Blake,'  as  merely  copying  her  was 
obnoxious  to  him.  He  had  heard  of  the  '  Dupuy  de  Lome,' 
the  first  of  the  armored  cruisers,  and  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  adding  vertical  armor  on  the  sides  of  the  ship 
in  addition  to  the  sloping  armor  of  the  protected  deck  as 
an  additional  protection,  and  of  sufficient  importance  to 
warrant  its  adoption  in  the  new  design.  He  argued  that 
no  projectile  could  penetrate  the  outer  plates  and  strike 
the  sloping  plate  at  the  same  angle  in  both,  etc. 

"  Strong  objections  were  urged  by  the  head  of  the 
Bureau  who  had  been  consulted  about  it,  and  the  legend 
of  weights  of  the  '  Blake'  as  published  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  them  in  the  '  Blake'  were  shown  with  the  assertion 
that  nothing  could  be  done.  The  Secretary  became  more 
persistent  as  the  opposition  increased,  and  the  wires  be- 

189 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

tween  the  Department  and  the  British  Admiralty  became 
hot  from  the  number  of  messages  that  passed  as  to  the 
'  Blake'  and  '  Blenheim.' 

"  While  the  Secretary  was  perplexed  with  the  opposi- 
tion of  officers  who  should  have  aided  rather  than  opposed 
him,  we  happened  to  meet,  and  he  asked  if  I  could  dupli- 
cate the  '  Blake'  and  her  performance  if  side  armor  of 
moderate  thickness  were  added,  and  also  asked  my  views 
of  the  '  Dupuy  de  Lome'  and  other  ships  of  the  same 
kind. 

"  I  promptly  stated  that  I  could  do  it,  and  explained 
the  idea  of  '  Dupuy  de  Lome,'  also  giving  him  the  names 
of  three  other  armored  cruisers  the  French  had  under 
way.  I  went  into  the  Secretary's  room  at  3  P.M.  and  dis- 
cussed the  whole  subject  with  him  till  8  P.M.;  then  left, 
and  promised  to  return  promptly  with  additional  informa- 
tion. 

"At  the  next  interview  I  furnished  the  Secretary  with 
a  complete  detail  of  what  would  be  required  to  make  an 
armored  cruiser  on  the  '  Blake's'  dimensions  and  perform- 
ance, and  stated  that  I  would  like  to  bid  in  Class  II  on 
an  alternative  design  with  side  armor. 

"  The  Secretary  handed  my  details  and  allotment  of 
weights  to  the  proper  officer,  and  the  Department  pro- 
ceeded to  get  up  the  plans  and  specifications.  Frequent 
interviews  with  the  Secretary  occurred  as  the  work  pro- 
gressed, and  I  felt  sure  that  under  Class  II,  permitting 
alternative  designs,  the  contract  would  be  awarded.  Be- 
fore the  time  for  awarding  the  contract  had  arrived,  I 
found  that  the  plans  were  being  developed  under  the 
conditions  that  I  had  given  the  Secretary;  but  when  the 
plans  were  exhibited  before  bids  were  sent  in,  it  tran- 
spired that  the  boilers  had  been  placed  three  abreast  in 


190 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  government  plans,  bringing  them  within  a  few  feet 
of  the  side  of  the  ship. 

"  I  then  designed  a  plan  for  arranging  the  six  boilers 
in  pairs,  making  the  coal-bunkers  on  the  sides  of  the 
ship.  This  arrangement  of  coal-bunkers  facilitated  the 
prompt  coaling  of  the  ship  and  the  handling  of  it.  It 
also  permitted  a  liberal  amount  of  '  coal  protection'  for 
the  boilers  and  engines,  which  was  considered  of  im- 
portant value  at  that  time,  and,  what  was  of  more  weight 
than  any  other  consideration,  the  introduction  of  two 
longitudinal  bulkheads  that  extended  the  entire  length  of 
the  engine  and  boiler  spaces  on  each  side  of  the  ship. 
With  three  boilers  abreast,  the  ship  was  liable  to  be  sunk 
at  any  time  by  a  collision  with  a  coal-barge  or  passing 
schooner;  any  penetration  of  the  side  abreast  of  boiler, 
besides  resulting  in  a  speedy  foundering,  would  certainly 
unship  the  side  boiler,  adding  thereby  an  explosion  to  the 
other  damage. 

"  With  the  boilers  in  pairs,  it  would  be  necessary  for 
a  ramming  vessel  to  penetrate  the  side  and  two  bulkheads 
and  enter  ten  feet  to  do  any  damage,  so  the  chances  of 
being  destroyed  by  ramming  would  be  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. I  also  lengthened  the  vessel  over  the  Department's 
plan,  but  kept  all  the  conditions  of  specifications  intact, 
except  as  to  dimensions. 

"After  the  bids  were  opened,  it  was  found  that  ours 
was  the  lowest  in  Class  II,  and  lower  than  any  other 
bid,  taking  the  competition  as  a  whole.  The  Secretary 
then  called  a  conference,  at  which  all  the  bidders  and  the 
Chief  Constructor  were  present,  and,  after  thorough  dis- 
cussion of  all  the  points  involved,  awarded  the  contract 
to  the  Cramp  Company  under  the  bid  in  Class  II  on  the 
modified  plan  I  had  suggested  and  offered  as  to  boiler 
arrangement  and  other  details  conformable  to  it. 

191 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

"  The  ship  was  named  the  '  New  York/  and  on  trial  trip 
she  largely  exceeded  her  contract  speed  and  requirements 
of  coal  endurance  and  in  all  other  respects;  while  the 
'Blake'  on  trial  was  a  failure;  her  engines  had  to  be 
practically  rebuilt,  and  then  did  not  come  within  the 
scope  of  reasonable  competition. 

"  Mr.  Tracy  can  fairly  claim  credit  for  the  design  of 
the  'New  York,'  and  the  project  for  the  construction  of 
the  '  Indiana/  '  Massachusetts/  and  the  '  Oregon'  class  of 
battleships  was  also  due  to  his  foresight." 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  Memoir  to 
trace  the  progress  of  the  new  navy  ship  by 
ship,  or  even  by  naval  programmes  from  year 
to  year.  For  the  purpose  of  this  work,  it 
suffices  to  say  that,  of  the  total  number  of 
battleships,  armored  cruisers,  and  first-class 
protected  cruisers  actually  in  service  at  this 
writing  (1903),  Mr.  Cramp  has  built  about  a 
majority  as  against  all  other  American  ship- 
builders combined.  There  are  ten  battleships 
in  commission,  of  which  Mr.  Cramp  has  built 
five ;  two  armored  cruisers,  both  built  by  him ; 
ten  protected  cruisers  of  the  first  class,  of 
which  five  hail  from  Cramps'  shipyard:  that 
is  to  say,  a  total  of  twenty-two  vessels,  all  first- 
class  in  their  respective  types,  of  which  Mr. 
Cramp  has  built  twelve  as  against  ten  by  all 
other  American  ship-builders  put  together, 
navy-yards  included. 

Of  course,  we  exclude  from  this  reckoning 
192 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  two  show-ships  built  by  Armstrong  for  a 
South  American  government  and  foolishly 
bought  by  our  Navy  Department  in  the  par- 
oxysmal flurry  incident  to  the  outbreak  of  the 
Spanish  War.  The  main  excuse  for  buying 
them  was  that,  if  we  did  not,  Spain  would.  So 
be  it.  Better  to  have  let  Spain  buy  them,  if 
they  could  not  have  strengthened  her  navy 
more  than  they  did  ours.  At  any  rate,  had 
Spain  bought  them,  we  might  have  captured 
or  destroyed  them,  as  we  did  nearly  all  her 
ships.  They  would  probably  have  been  worth 
capture  or  destruction,  but  they  were  never 
worth  buying. 

Since  1887,  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  Mr. 
Cramp  has  completed  fifteen  ships  for  the 
navy  (including  the  "Vesuvius"  and  "Ter- 
ror"), and  is  building  three  more  at  this 
writing.  In  every  case  these  ships  embody  in 
plan  and  design  more  or  less  of  his  own  knowl- 
edge, skill,  and  experience.  In  some  cases  the 
designs  are  altogether  his  own.  In  others  the 
machinery  is  his,  with  important  modifications 
of  the  Department's  hull.  In  no  case  has  he 
built  a  ship  wholly  upon  the  plans  of  the  De- 
partment. While  this  has  redounded  to  the 
benefit  of  the  navy,  it  would  be  idle  to  say  that 
it  has  been  in  the  long  run  advantageous  to 
Mr.  Cramp.  On  the  other  hand,  its  tendency 

193  13 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

has  been  otherwise:  A  certain  class  of  naval 
officers  have  chosen  to  consider  Mr.  Cramp's 
constantly  recurring  propositions  to  modify 
and  improve  their  designs  as  having  the  force 
and  effect  of  criticisms,  and,  to  say  the  least, 
they  have  not  been  grateful  to  him  for  his 
pains.  On  the  contrary,  no  little  jealousy  and 
some  resentment  have  been  the  results,  and 
he  has  been  made  to  feel  their  consequences 
more  than  once.  The  chief  misfortune  of  this 
state  of  affairs  is  that  it  precludes  the  cordial 
co-operation  which  should  exist  between  offi- 
cers of  the  Navy  Department  and  a  contractor 
engaged  in  building  naval  vessels,  and  creates 
in  its  stead  a  sense  of  antagonism  which  tends 
to  augment  the  difficulties  of  naval  construc- 
tion, which  are  great  and  perplexing  enough 
at  the  best. 

But  Mr.  Cramp  has  not  concerned  himself 
with  the  building  of  naval  ships  alone.  He  has 
delved  into  the  problems  presented  by  the  uses 
to  which  the  ships  are  put  when  completed. 
The  results  of  his  observations  in  this  direc- 
tion were  embodied  in  an  address  to  the  Naval 
War  College  read  before  that  institution,  June 
18,  1897,  by  invitation  of  the  Commandant,  a 
little  less  than  a  year  before  the  Spanish  War. 
The  experience  of  that  struggle,  brief  as  it 


194 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

was,  and  decided  almost  wholly  by  sea  power, 
made  this  paper  little  short  of  prophetic. 

Some  extracts  from  it  will  serve  to  exhibit 
the  trend  of  Mr.  Cramp's  thought  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  practical  uses  and  needs  of  ships- 
of-war  after  they  leave  the  ship-builder's 
hands.  Among  other  things  he  said : 

"  The  accomplishment  of  the  objects  of  sea- warfare  will 
depend  partly  upon  the  character  of  the  armaments  and 
partly  on  the  wisdom  with  which  their  operations  are 
directed;  nor  can  any  one  gainsay  that  the  wisdom  of 
direction  will  depend  on  the  conversancy  of  officers  with 
the  nature  and  necessities  of  the  material  units  of  which 
the  armaments  are  composed. 

"  These  propositions  being  taken  for  granted,  it  be- 
comes clear  that  there  can  be  no  effective  system  of  teach- 
ing the  art  of  naval  warfare  which  does  not  embrace 
exhaustive  study  of  and  consequent  close  familiarity  with 
the  instruments  by  which  the  principles  of  the  art  are  to 
be  carried  into  force  and  effect. 

"  From  this  point  of  view  it  must  be  admitted  that 
questions  within  the  province  of  the  naval  architect  and 
problems  which  he  is  best  qualified  to  solve  form  an  es- 
sential part  of  such  a  curriculum  in  its  largest  and  most 
comprehensive  aspects. 

"  The  unvarying  tendency  of  naval  progress  is  to  exalt 
the  importance  of  the  naval  architect  and  to  augment  the 
value  of  the  constructor  as  a  factor  in  the  sum-total  of 
sea  power. 

"  The  naval  armament  of  to-day  is  a  mechanism.  If 
we  view  it  as  a  single  ship,  it  is  a  mechanical  unit  whose 
warlike  value  depends  on  its  excellence  as  a  fighting  ma- 

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MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

chine.  If  we  view  it  as  a  fleet,  it  is  an  assembly  of  me- 
chanical units,  the  warlike  value  of  which  will  depend 
alike  on  the  excellence  of  each  unit  as  a  fighting  machine, 
and  on  the  adaptation  of  each  unit  to  its  consorts  to  pro- 
duce the  most  symmetrical  efficiency  of  the  group  as  a 
whole. 

"  For  this  reason,  the  word  seamanship,  in  the  old- 
fashioned  or  conventional  sense,  has  ceased  to  cover  ade- 
quately the  requirements  of  knowledge,  skill,  and  aptness 
which  the  modern  conditions  of  naval  warfare  impose 
upon  the  officer  in  command  or  subordinate. 

"  By  this  I  mean  not  to  depreciate  seamanship  pure 
and  simple,  but  to  point  out  that  modern  conditions  re- 
quire an  enlargement  of  the  meaning  of  the  term  and  a 
broadening  of  its  scope  of  function  far  beyond  the  ex- 
actions of  any  former  period. 

"In  the  old  days  there  was  no  essential  difference  in 
ships  except  in  size.  Experience  in  a  sloop-of-war  quali- 
fied an  officer  to  assume,  at  once  and  in  full  efficiency, 
equivalent  duties  in  a  frigate,  a  seventy-four,  or  a  three- 
decker.  Familiarity  with  one  ship,  irrespective  of  rate, 
was  familiarity  with  all  ships.  Tactical  lessons  learned 
in  manoeuvring  one  fleet  were  alike  applicable  to  the 
manoeuvring  of  all  fleets.  Even  the  application  of  steam 
as  a  propulsive  auxiliary  in  its  earlier  stages  did  not  radi- 
cally alter  the  old  conditions.  At  all  events,  it  did  not 
practically  erase  them,  as  the  present  development  has 
done. 

"  This  growth  of  complexity  and  elaboration,  and  this 
almost  infinite  multiplication  of  parts  and  devices  in  mod- 
ern ships,  have  entailed  upon  the  naval  architect  and 
constructor  demands  and  difficulties  never  dreamed  of  in 
the  earlier  days.  The  staff  required  to  design  and  con- 
struct an  '  Iowa'  is  multiplied  in  number,  and  the  com- 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

plexity  of  its  organization  augmented,  as  compared  with 
that  required  for  the  design  and  construction  of  the  '  New 
Ironsides,'  almost  infinitely. 

"  Similar  conditions  apply  to  command  and  manage- 
ment; so  that,  while  the  building  of  a  modern  battleship 
entails  enormous  work  and  responsibility  on  the  naval 
architect,  constructor,  and  staff,  the  effective  use  of  her 
as  a  tool  in  the  trade  of  war  presents  an  equal  variety 
and  intricacy  of  problems  to  students  of  the  art  of  naval 
warfare  in  this  college. 

"  Such  questions  and  such  problems  cannot  be  relegated 
to  the  category  of  details.  Even  if  we  consider  the  art  of 
naval  warfare  in  the  aspects  only  of  strategy  and  tac- 
tics, both  will  be  affected  for  better  or  for  worse  by  the 
behavior  and  performance  of  the  units  composing  the 
force  in  operation.  This  being  admitted,  it  follows  that 
the  behavior  and  performance  of  the  units  will  be  as  the 
knowledge  and  capacity  of  captains  and  their  staffs,  and 
that  no  extent  of  skill  and  capacity  in  the  admiral  direct- 
ing the  whole  can  overcome  or  evade  the  consequences  of 
incapacity  and  failure  on  the  part  of  a  captain  com- 
manding a  part. 

"As  the  speed  of  any  fleet  is  that  of  its  slowest  ship, 
so  will  its  manoeuvring  power  be  limited  by  the  capacity 
of  its  poorest  captain.  As  it  might  easily  happen  that  the 
slowest  or  least  handy  ship  and  the  poorest  captain 
would  be  joined,  the  quality  of  the  other  ships  and  the 
ability  of  the  other  officers  would  go  for  nothing. 

"  In  view  of  the  complex  character  of  the  ships  them- 
selves, and  the  difficulty  and  danger  of  manoeuvring  them 
under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  as  pointed  out,  the 
experience  of  the  first  general  action  will  demonstrate 
the  necessity  of  having  all  the  battleships  in  a  fleet  as 
nearly  alike  as  possible  in  size,  type,  and  capacity  of  per- 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

formance.  Such  provision  would  not  equalize  the  per- 
sonal factor  of  different  commanding  officers,  but  it  would 
at  least  give  them  all  an  equal  chance  at  the  start. 

"  For  this  reason  I  have  always  considered  it  unwise  to 
multiply  types  or  to  modify  seriously  those  which  the  best 
judgment  we  are  able  to  form  approves. 

"  These  considerations  seem  conclusive  against  multi- 
plication of  types,  and  in  favor  of  adhering  to  one  that 
plainly  meets  the  requirements  of  our  national  situation 
and  policy. 

"  The  composition  of  a  battleship  fleet  under  such  con- 
ditions would  minimize  the  tactical  dangers  and  difficulties 
referred  to  earlier,  but  they  would  still  remain  very  great, 
and  nothing  can  mitigate  them  except  frequent  and  ardu- 
ous drill  in  squadron  of  evolution,  so  that  our  captains 
may  become  familiar  with  their  weapons  before  being 
called  upon  to  use  them  in  actual  battle.  There  will  be 
scant  opportunity  to  drill  a  battleship  squadron  after  the 
outbreak  of  war. 

"  In  my  judgment,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  overvalue  the 
importance  of  homogeneity  in  fleet  organizations,  and  I 
am  sure  that  the  very  first  and  perhaps  greatest  lesson 
taught  by  an  encounter  between  fleets  of  modern  battle- 
ships will  be  the  advantage  of  similarity  of  type  and 
equality  of  performance  in  the  units  of  action. 

"  To  this  element  of  the  art  of  naval  warfare,  then,  I 
would  invite  your  most  earnest  and  penetrating  attention 
and  study. 

"  Assuming  this  problem  to  be  satisfactorily  solved  and 
the  material  of  the  fleet  in  the  most  effective  possible 
condition,  so  far  as  relation  of  units  to  each  other  and 
to  the  sum-total  is  concerned,  we  have  still  left  for  con- 
sideration the  difference  between  men,  the  lack  of  uni- 
formity in  personnel.  Homogeneity  of  material  may  be 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

attained  by  adherence  to  a  wise  programme  of  design  and 
construction;  but  homogeneity  of  personnel,  in  the  sense 
of  uniform  capacity  and  efficiency  among  individuals,  is 
beyond  human  art  or  science  to  produce,  because  the  dif- 
ference between  men  is  the  decree  of  a  higher  power.  The 
existence  of  this  college  is  itself  a  devout  recognition  of 
that  great  fact,  because  its  whole  objective  is  to  mitigate 
or  minify  as  much  as  possible  this  inherent  human  frailty, 
by  exhausting  the  resources  of  training  and  study,  of  pre- 
cept and  example. 

"  I  do  not  by  any  means  argue  that  the  commander  of 
a  ship  should  be  a  naval  architect  or  constructor.  But, 
having  familiarized  himself  with  the  principles  of  that  art 
which  touch  directly  and  immediately  his  function  of 
handling  his  ship  under  sea  conditions  of  common  oc- 
currence, and  having  gained  sufficient  knowledge  of  her 
traits,  he  should  be  able  to  form  an  instant  and  correct 
judgment  as  to  her  point  of  best  behavior  in  any  sea-way. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  sea  experience  is  the  only 
school  in  which  these  problems  can  be  worked  out. 

"Knowledge  of  that  character  cannot  be  acquired  by 
study  of  the  experience  of  others.  Close  and  earnest 
attention  to  this  course  of,  at  best  partial,  information 
cannot  serve  as  a  substitute  for  experience  of  one's  own. 
At  most  it  can  only  provide  a  sound  basis  on  which  to 
take  quick  advantage  of  one's  own  experience,  when  con- 
fronted with  an  actual  situation. 

"  This  brings  me  to  the  proposition  that  the  modern 
battleship,  with  all  its  complexities,  weights,  and  pecu- 
liarities of  design  and  model,  entails  upon  commanding 
officers  a  new  requirement  which  I  can  find  no  better  terms 
to  describe  than  '  battleship  seamanship.'  It  is  a  develop- 
ment of  the  seafaring  art  which,  as  events  have  proved,  is 
by  no  means  yet  mastered  in  the  greatest  and  most  act- 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

ively  exercised  navy  of  the  world;  therefore  it  would  be 
too  much  to  expect  its  mastery  in  navies  of  far  less  mag- 
nitude and,  hence,  less  means  for  distribution  of  oppor- 
tunities to  gain  experience. 

"It  therefore  follows  indisputably  that  navies  of  the 
lesser  magnitude  should  constantly  exhaust  their  means 
of  enabling  officers  to  gain  sea  experience  by  keeping  all 
their  large  ships  in  active  evolution  all  the  time. 

"  Having  thus  viewed  the  modern  battleship  as  a  me- 
chanical unit  herself,  we  may  profitably  pass  to  brief 
consideration  of  the  great  number  and  variety  of  mech- 
anisms composing  her.  In  the  strict  professional  or 
technical  sense,  these  mechanisms  concern  mainly  the  en- 
gineer and  the  electrician.  But  as  the  foundation  of  all 
warlike  efficiency  in  personnel  is  discipline,  and  as  the 
foundation  of  all  discipline  is  the  inevitable  principle  of 
a  single  head,  one  commander,  who  is  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  an  absolute  monarch,  it  should  follow  that  '  the 
king  can  do  no  wrong.' 

"  I  have  already  remarked  that  the  captain  need  not 
be  a  naval  architect  or  constructor  to  comprehend  and 
be  able  to  apply  the  group  of  principles  of  that  art 
which  touch  his  functions  directly  in  managing  his  ship 
as  a  whole;  likewise,  I  would  say  here  that  he  need  not 
be  engineer  or  electrician  in  his  relation  to  the  numerous 
and  diverse  mechanisms  whose  proper  operation  and  con- 
trol are  essential  to  the  efficiency  of  his  command. 

"  But,  if  he  really  commands,  he  must  know  enough 
about  the  instruments  that  do  his  work  to  know  when 
they  are  doing  it  well  and  when  not;  to  know  whether 
his  subordinates  immediately  in  charge  of  the  several  de- 
vices are  operating  them  properly  or  not;  to  know  when 
defects  exist  and  when  they  have  been  made  good.  If  he 
does  not  know  or  cannot  learn  these  things,  he  must 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

depend  wholly  on  subordinates  immediately  in  charge; 
and  their  reports  will  be  law  to  him,  or  if  not  law,  at 
least  decisions  from  which  he  has  no  appeal.  Manifestly 
such  a  situation  is  utterly  incompatible  with  the  inde- 
pendent and  self -relying  autocracy  which  is  the  essential 
and  fundamental  principle  of  naval  command,  without 
which  discipline  must  sooner  or  later  vanish  into  mere 
empty  form  or  conventional  myth.  These  facts,  even 
more  than  any  other  considerations,  argue  for  uniform- 
ity of  type,  previously  touched  upon,  so  that  in  learning 
the  traits  of  one  battleship  the  officer  acquires  experience 
and  knowledge  applicable  at  once  to  the  discharge  of  his 
duties  in  another. 

"  The  foregoing  discussion  is  limited  to  matters  affect- 
ing the  unit  of  action,  the  single  ship,  and  the  captain. 
Passing  to  consideration  of  the  unit  of  operation,  the 
fleet  and  the  admiral,  we  find  another  array  of  problems 
equally  within  the  scope  of  this  paper. 

"  Let  us  assume  that  the  composition  of  the  fleet  has 
been  made  as  nearly  homogeneous  as  possible,  by  carry- 
ing out  the  principles  previously  stated  for  ships  and 
their  captains,  and  that  the  admiral  finds  himself  in 
command  of  an  ideal  fleet  as  to  material  and  personnel. 
Actual  differences  in  efficiency  among  the  several  units 
of  action  will  still  remain,  and  it  will  become  the  first 
duty  of  the  admiral  to  ascertain  and  locate  these  diversi- 
ties with  unerring  judgment  and  unsparing  perception. 
He  should  know  to  a  nicety  the  personal  equation  of 
every  captain  and  the  effective  individuality  of  every  ship. 

"  Among  the  captains  he  should  be  able  to  differentiate 
the  traits  of  relative  quickness  of  perception,  promptness 
of  action,  readiness  of  responsibility,  and  boldness  of  exe- 
cution. 


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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Among  the  most  important  services  of  Mr. 
Cramp  to  the  new  navy  was  his  instrumen- 
tality in  bringing  about  the  system  of  classify- 
ing bids.  Prior  to  1885,  whenever  contract 
construction  was  to  be  done,  the  plans  of  the 
Department,  pure  and  simple,  were  the  stand- 
ard. If  any  bidder  proposed  to  deviate  from 
them  in  any  way, — no  matter  how  palpable  the 
improvement, — his  bid  would  be  held  irregular 
and  thrown  out.  The  issue  came  on  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  ships  authorized  by  the  Act  of 
March  3,  1885.  Of  these  four  ships,  the  "Bal- 
timore's" plans  had  been  purchased  abroad, 
hull  and  machinery,  and  were  accepted  prac- 
tically without  change.  But  the  Department's 
design  involved  the  then  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
obsolete  compound  engine  for  the  other  three, 
' '  Newark, "  "  Yorktown, "  and  "  Petrel. ' '  Mr. 
Cramp,  desiring  to  bid  on  the  " Newark"  and 
"Yorktown,"  was  doubtful  whether  he  could 
develop  the  indicated  horse-power,  which  the 
form  of  contract  required  him  to  guarantee, 
with  the  Department's  compound  engines.  He 
was,  however,  confident  that  he  could  do  it 
with  triple-expansion  engines  of  his  own  de- 
sign. 

To  overcome  the  difficulty,  he  suggested  to 
Secretary  Whitney  that,  in  issuing  the  circular 
asking  for  proposals,  a  classification  of  bids  be 

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MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

provided  for.  This  suggestion  was  at  once 
adopted,  and  bids  were  authorized  to  be  offered 
in  three  classes:  Class  I,  the  Department's 
plans  pure  and  simple;  Class  II,  the  Depart- 
ment 's  plans  modified  by  the  bidder  as  to  hull 
or  machinery  or  both ;  and  Class  III,  the  bid- 
der's  plans  wholly.  This  arrangement  broke 
up  the  embargo  of  the  Bureaus,  and  admitted 
the  results  of  the  study,  experience,  and  skill 
of  practical  ship-builders.  Some  of  the  Bu- 
reaus fought  the  plan  with  all  their  energy, 
but  the  contest  they  made  had  no  other  result 
than  to  convince  them  that  Mr.  Whitney  was 
the  de  facto  as  well  as  the  de  jure  head  of  the 
Department, — a  quite  novel  experience  for 
them!  Some  time  afterward  Classes  II  and 
III  were  merged,  so  that  all  departures  from 
the  Department's  plans,  whether  modifications 
of  them  or  complete  substitution  of  bidder's 
plans  for  them,  were  grouped  under  Class  II, 
which  has  become  the  established  practice  in 
inviting  proposals.  Mr.  Cramp's  bids  have 
usually  been  in  Class  II;  involving  in  most 
cases  more  or  less  extensive  modifications  of 
the  Department's  plans,  and  in  two  cases,  the 
"Philadelphia"  and  the  "Maine,"  his  own 
plans  complete.  The  value  of  this  new  de- 
parture lay  in  the  fact  that  it  gave  the  Navy 
Department  the  benefit  of  all  the  progress  of 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  country  in  the  ship-building  art  as  actually 
practised  by  men  who  were  building  ships  for 
a  living,  and  emancipated  it  from  the  dominion 
of  the  cloister.  It  has  become  a  part  of  the 
permanent  policy  of  the  government. 

The  history  of  Mr.  Cramp's  contributions 
to  the  new  navy  must,  at  this  writing,  be  left 
an  unfinished  chapter.  Having  built  and  de- 
livered to  the  government  five  first-class  battle- 
ships, two  first-rate  armored  cruisers,  five  first- 
class  protected  cruisers,  together  with  a 
double-turreted  monitor,  a  gunboat  and  a  tor- 
pedo vessel,  he  is  yet  building  three  armored 
cruisers  of  the  largest  dimensions  and  most 
approved  type.  His  contributions  to  the 
literature  of  the  subject,  ranging  over  a  score 
of  years,  have  been  in  their  way  of  hardly  less 
importance  and  interest  than  his  achievements 
in  producing  its  warlike  material.  Their  full 
text,  in  all  forms  and  through  all  channels, — 
hearings  before  committees,  communications 
to  the  Navy  Department  and  its  Bureaus, 
newspaper  interviews  and  magazine  papers, — 
would,  if  reproduced  in  extenso,  fill  two  vol- 
umes larger  than  this  one.  Suffice  it  to  say 
here  that  there  is  no  practical  subject  pertain- 
ing to  naval  art  or  science,  from  the  design 
and  construction  of  ships-of-war  to  their  man- 
agement in  service,  which  he  has  not  from  time 

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MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

to  time  discussed  as  opportunity  offered  or 
occasion  required.  If  he  has  at  times  shown 
a  spirit  approaching  intolerance  when  dealing 
with  invasions  of  his  profession  by  inexperi- 
enced, untrained,  or  incapable  men,  it  may  be 
explained  by  the  logic  of  a  favorite  quotation 
of  his  own, ' '  Fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to 
tread ! "  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  yet  to  be  said 
that,  if  not  always  charitable  in  his  criticisms 
and  not  always  liberal  in  the  standard  of  com- 
petency which  he  has  set  so  high  and  main- 
tained so  vigorously,  his  professional  motives 
have  always  been  worthy  and  his  efforts  sin- 
cere and  earnest.  Whatever  may  be  the  future 
growth  or  achievements  of  the  modern  Ameri- 
can navy,  the  name  of  Charles  H.  Cramp  will 
ever  be  found  indelibly  stamped  upon  its  his- 
torical origin  and  primary  development.  The 
ships  he  has  built  have  won  battles,  gained 
campaigns,  and  vanquished  the  enemies  of  the 
country  in  war.  They  have  held  the  lead  in 
renewing  the  one-time  waning  naval  prestige 
of  our  flag,  and  in  restoring  the  sea  power  of 
the  United  States  to  its  rightful  rank  among 
the  nations. 


205 


CHAPTER   V 

Armstrong's — Russian  War-ship  Construction — Arrival  of 
"  Cimbria"  at  Bar  Harbor — Visit  of  Wharton  Barker 
to  Shipyard — Visit  of  Captain  Semetschkin  and  Com- 
mission to  the  Yard — Purchase  of  Ships — Newspaper 
Accounts — Captain  Gore-Jones — Mr.  Cramp's  account 
of  Operations — "  Europe,"  "  Asia,"  "  Africa,"  and 
"  Zabiaca"— Popoff  and  "  Livadia"— Visit  to  Grand 
Duke  Constantine — Anniversary  Banquet  in  St. 
Petersburg  of  Survivors  of  "  Cimbria"  Expedition — 
Object  of  Visit  to  Russia — Mr.  Dunn  and  Japan — 
Contract  for  "  Kasagi" — Jubilee  Session  of  Naval 
Architects  in  London — Visit  to  Russia — Correspond- 
ence with  Russian  Officials — Visit  to  Armstrong's — 
Japanese  War-ship  Construction — "  Coming  Sea 
Power" — Correspondence  with  Russian  Official — In- 
vited to  Russia — Asked  to  bid  for  War-ships — Our 
Ministers  abroad — Construction  of  "  Retvizan"  and 
"  Variag"— "  Maine" 

THE  old  Latin  poet  Horace  introduces  his 
First  Book  of  "  Sermons  or  Satires"  by  ad- 
dressing to  his  great  patron,  Maecenas,  the 
question : 

"  Qui  fit,  Mfficenas,  ut  nemo,  quam  sibi  sortem 
Seu  ratio  dederit,  seu  fors  objecerit  ilia 
Contentus  vivat?  laudet  diversa  sequentes?" 

("How  is  it,  Maecenas,  that  no  one  lives  content  with 
the  lot  that  endeavor  has  given  to  him  or  that  fortune  has 

206 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

thrown  in  his  way?  but  emulates  those  following  other 
pursuits?") 

Mr.  Cramp  reached  the  condition  described 
by  Horace  early  in  the  last  decade  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  He  had  exhausted  the  oppor- 
tunities of  American  ship-building,  both  for 
war  and  for  commerce.  A  fleet,  not  only  re- 
spectable in  number  but  formidable  in  type 
and  power, — a  fleet  embracing  battleships, 
armored  cruisers,  and  protected  cruisers, — 
bore  the  impress  of  his  art  and  heralded  the 
distinction  of  his  name.  To  this  compact  war- 
fleet  he  had  added  two  ocean  greyhounds,  the 
first  of  their  type  built  in  the  Western  hemi- 
sphere. In  prosecution  of  all  this  advancement, 
if  we  take  the  decade  from  1885  to  1895,  he 
had  multiplied  the  area  of  the  shipyard  by 
two,  and  its  capacity  alike  in  number  and  size 
of  steamships  and  their  machinery  more  than 
three.  In  1889,  some  people — and  among  them 
his  own  associates  in  the  ownership  of  the 
yard — were  afraid  to  undertake  the  armored 
cruiser  "New  York."  Mr.  Cramp  met  this 
obstruction  with  radical  action,  as  was  his  wont 
in  every  emergency;  and  in  four  years  from 
that  time  he  had  laid  the  keels  of  Atlantic  grey- 
hounds whose  register  tonnage  was  more  than 
two  thousand  tons  greater  than  the  total  dis- 
placement of  the  ' '  New  York. ' ' 

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MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

Mr.  Cramp  had  long  been  emulous,  some 
Englishman  might  say  envious,  of  the  wonder- 
ful career  of  Sir  William  Armstrong  and  of  his 
marvellous  success  in  securing  foreign  con- 
tracts. On  one  occasion,  returning  from  a  visit 
to  Elswick  with  a  party  from  the  British  In- 
stitution of  Naval  Architects,  of  which  he  is  a 
member,  Mr.  Cramp  remarked  that  "Arm- 
strong and  his  establishment  had  ceased  to  be 
ship-builders  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of 
the  term  and  had  become  navy-builders.  They 
do  not  trouble  themselves, ' '  he  said  '  *  with  iso- 
lated ships;  to  all  intents  and  purposes  they 
undertake  to  build  whole  navies  in  bulk  for 
ambitious  maritime  states  in  South  America 
and  Asia,"  At  the  time  of  the  visit  referred 
to,  with  exceptions  hardly  worth  mention,  the 
navies  of  Brazil,  Argentine  Eepublic,  Chile, 
Japan,  and  China  had  been  built,  engined, 
armed,  armored,  munitioned,  equipped,  and 
outfitted  at  Elswick ;  and  every  ship  was  ready 
for  battle  when  she  finally  sailed  from  Arm- 
strong's works.  In  addition  to  this,  Elswick 
had  done  a  great  deal  of  work  for  European 
states,  having,  at  one  tune  or  another,  con- 
tributed in  some  degree  to  every  European 
navy,  great  or  small,  except  those  of  France 
and  Eussia. 

To  a  man  of  Mr.  Cramp's  untiring  aspira- 

208 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

tion  and  restless  ambition,  this  was  a  spectacle 
not  to  be  supinely  endured.  He  therefore  de- 
termined to  see  what  could  be  done,  and  he 
selected  what  seemed  to  him  the  most  prom- 
ising directions  of  effort, — Russia  and  Japan. 
In  dealing  with  the  Russians  he  had  initial  ad- 
vantages. The  first  was  that  Russia  never  had 
a  war-ship,  except  the  nondescript ' '  Livadia, ' ' 
built  in  England,  though  she  had  been  a  liberal 
patron  of  English  engine-builders.  The  sec- 
ond point  of  advantage  was  that  in  1878-79 
a  considerable  volume  of  work  had  been  done 
by  Cramp  for  the  Russian  navy,  involving 
conversion  of  three  large  merchant  steamships 
into  auxiliary  cruisers  and  the  construction  of 
one  small  cruiser. 

The  history  of  this  interesting  event,  an 
event  of  international  importance,  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1878  the  North 
German  Lloyd  steamer  "  Cimbria"  appeared 
at  Bar  Harbor  with  about  sixty  Russian  offi- 
cers and  about  eight  hundred  men.  Their 
presence  at  that  place  created  a  great  sensa- 
tion. Visitors  thronged  there ;  and  the  officers 
were  entertained  at  Bangor  and  also  in  the 
neighboring  towns.  The  common  sailors,  how- 
ever, who  were  allowed  to  go  ashore  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  at  a  time,  were  cruelly  dis- 
14  209 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

appointed.  They  would  go  along  the  streets 
searching  for  vodka  in  vain.  The  Maine  law, 
which  was  in  full  force,  was  something  beyond 
their  comprehension.  "  There  is  everything 
in  the  world  here  but  vodka, ' '  they  would  say 
to  one  another,  and  even  to  their  officers,  when 
they  returned  to  their  ship  from  shore  liberty. 
Almost  at  the  same  moment  when  the  * '  Cim- 
bria"  arrived  in  the  waters  of  Maine,  Mr. 
Wharton  Barker  visited  Cramps'  shipyard. 
The  banking  concern  of  Barker  Brothers  was 
at  that  time  the  representative  of  the  Barings, 
who  were  the  financial  agents  of  Russia.  Mr. 
Barker  informed  Mr.  Cramp  that  he  was  dele- 
gated to  arrange  for  the  conversion  and  fit- 
ting out  of  a  number  of  auxiliary  cruisers  for 
the  Russian  navy,  and  that  he  had  selected  the 
Cramp  Company  as  the  professional  and  me- 
chanical instrumentality  for  that  purpose.  He 
arranged  for  a  visit  of  a  number  of  Russian 
officers  to  the  office  of  the  Cramp  Company. 
These  officers  had  come  over  independent  of 
the  "Cimbria,"  but  arrived  about  the  same 
time.  They  were  the  Committee  or  Board 
which  had  been  appointed  to  decide  on  all  ques- 
tions that  might  arise  in  connection  with  the 
naval  project  mentioned.  The  head  of  this 
Board  was  Captain  Semetschkin,  Chief  of 
Staff  of  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  who  was 

210 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

then  General  Admiral  of  the  Navy.  Besides 
Captain  Semetschkin,  the  Board  consisted  of 
Captain  Grippenburg,  Captain  Avalan,  Cap- 
tain Alexeieff,  Captain  Loman,  Captain  Rodi- 
onoff,  and  Naval  Constructor  Koutaneyoff. 
This  was  in  1879.  At  this  writing  (1903)  Cap- 
tains Semetschkin  and  Loman  have  passed 
away;  Captain  Avalan  is  now  Vice-Admiral 
and  Imperial  Minister  of  Marine;  Cap- 
tain Alexeieff,  now  Vice-Admiral,  is  also  Vice- 
roy of  Manchuria;  Captain  Rodionoff  is  an 
Admiral;  and  Naval  Constructor  Koutaney- 
koff  is  Constructor-in-Chief  of  the  Russian 
navy. 

Upon  examination  of  Cramps'  shipyard, 
they  decided  that  Mr.  Barker's  selection  was 
well  judged,  and  approved  his  recommenda- 
tions that  the  work  projected  be  done  there. 

The  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey  was 
still  in  progress,  and  there  was  every  indica- 
tion at  that  moment  of  British  intervention. 
The  purpose  of  the  Russians  was  to  fit  out  a 
small  fleet  of  auxiliary  cruisers  or  commerce 
destroyers  to  cruise  in  the  North  Atlantic  in 
the  route  of  the  great  British  traffic  between 
the  United  States  and  England.  Their  idea 
was  that  the  fitting  out  of  such  a  fleet  with  its 
threatening  attitude  toward  their  North  At- 
lantic commerce  might  or  would  deter  the 

211 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

British  from  armed  intervention  in  behalf  of 
the  Turks. 

At  first  the  Russians  made  pretence  of  great 
secrecy  as  to  their  movements.  "  Pretence  of 
secrecy"  is  the  only  phrase  that  can  ade- 
quately express  their  attitude.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  appearance  of  the  "Cimbria"  on 
the  coast  of  Maine  at  Bar  Harbor,  filled  with 
Russian  naval  officers  and  seamen,  was  not  con- 
cealed, but  on  the  other  hand  ostentatious.  It 
of  course  instantly  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  British  Ministry  and  excited  their  appre- 
hension as  to  the  possible  outcome ;  apprehen- 
sion which  the  stories  that  for  the  time  being 
filled  the  papers  of  New  York  and  New  Eng- 
land certainly  did  nothing  to  abate.  An  ex- 
amination of  the  files  of  the  Evening  Star  and 
the  North  American  at  this  time  would  be  in- 
teresting reading.  The  Evening  Star,  May  1, 
1878,  has  an  account  headed,  "What  brings 
the  Russian  Steamer  to  Maine?"  May  2: 
"Suspicious  Craft."  May  6:  "Suspicious 
'Cimbria'  to  leave  her  Station."  Some  ac- 
counts "to  stir  up  the  Irish."  May  8:  "An 
Account  of  the  '  egg-eating'  incident." 

The  North  American,  May  13,  states  that  the 
captain  of  the  "Cimbria"  "has  said  that 
Russia  is  preparing  to  attack  Great  Britain  by 
sea;"  and  refers  to  the  disastrous  effects  on 

212 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

our  commerce  during  the  Civil  War  by  the 
work  of  the  Confederate  cruisers  which  prac- 
tically drove  the  American  flag  from  the  ocean. 

Captain  Gore-Jones,  the  Naval  Attache  of 
the  British  Legation  at  Washington,  and 
others  visited  Bar  Harbor  at  the  time  the 
"  Cimbria"  was  there.  They  made  their  visit 
incognito,  as  they  imagined,  and  they  located 
themselves  daily  on  the  landing  pier  near  the 
Bar  Harbor  Club  House,  where  all  the  Russian 
officers  who  were  aboard  the  ship  landed  every 
day.  It  happened  that  one  of  the  officers  knew 
Gore- Jones  notwithstanding  his  disguise.  The 
British  Attache  was  sitting  upon  the  pier  with 
a  slouch  hat  on  his  head  and  a  fishing-rod  in 
his  hand,  intently  watching  and  patiently  wait- 
ing for  a  bite,  and  apparently  oblivious  to  all 
that  was  going  on  except  at  the  other  end  of 
his  line.  When  this  officer  passed  him  on  the 
pier,  he  said  in  very  good  English,  "Captain 
Gore-Jones,  the  fish  do  not  seem  to  be  anxious 
to  make  acquaintance  with  you ! ' ' 

The  visit  of  these  officers  to  the  shipyard  of 
course  was  carried  out  with  a  great  deal  of 
real  secrecy,  and  arrangements  were  made  to 
buy  three  or  four  fine  and  up-to-date  merchant 
ships  and  to  transform  them  into  cruisers,  and 
also  to  build  a  small  new  cruiser. 

Mr.  Cramp  first  applied  to  the  American 
213 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Line  to  buy  three  of  their  ships,  but  the  presi- 
dent of  the  company  was  too  much  astonished 
to  give  him  any  satisfaction;  or,  at  least,  he 
was  not  prepared  to  act  as  promptly  as  the 
occasion  required,  and  lost  the  chance  of  sell- 
ing the  ships,  to  the  most  profound  disgust  of 
Mr.  Thomas  A.  Scott,  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  which  corporation  had  a  paramount 
interest  in  the  ships  and  wanted  to  sell  them ! 

The  "State  of  California"  was  on  the 
stocks  at  Cramps  about  ready  to  launch.  This 
board  of  officers  inspected  her.  They  also 
looked  at  the  "Columbus,"  sailing  between 
New  York  and  Havana,  a  ship  that  Cramps 
had  built  for  Mr.  Clyde, — and  the  "Saratoga," 
a  ship  that  had  belonged  to  the  Ward  Line, 
built  by  Mr.  Roach  for  that  same  trade,  and 
were  favorably  impressed. 

Up  to  this  time  the  presence  of  these  gentle- 
men in  Philadelphia  was  not  known  or  sus- 
pected; but  when  the  purchases  were  made, 
Mr.  Barker  decided  that,  while  the  time  had 
arrived  when  it  was  necessary  to  remove  the 
veil  of  secrecy,  the  Cramps  should  continue  to 
maintain  it  as  to  the  actual  work  and  its  prog- 
ress. 

Mr.  Cramp  arranged  with  Mr.  Alexander 
McCleary  with  this  end  in  view.  Mr.  McCleary 
was  at  that  time  the  principal  reporter  of  the 

214 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Evening  Star,  and  a  friend  and  member  of  the 
Harrison  Literary  Association,  to  which  Mr. 
Cramp  belonged.  The  whole  affair  was  man- 
aged by  him  most  admirably.  On  May  16  the 
North  American  and  Evening  Star  made  the 
first  announcement  that  indicated  what  the 
Russians  really  intended  to  do.  These  papers 
gave  an  account  of  the  sale  of  the  "  State  of 
California,"  and  that  $100,000  was  paid  on 
account  to  A.  A.  Low  &  Co.,  the  agents  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  Navigation  Company.  May  16 
was  the  day  of  the  launch,  and  on  the  next  day 
preparations  were  made  to  remove  the  joiner 
and  cabin  work,  a  full  account  of  which  ap- 
peared in  the  daily  papers. 

Mr.  Cramp  ultimately  purchased  in  addition 
the  steamships  "Columbus"  and  "Sara- 
toga." These  two  and  the  "State  of  Califor- 
nia," after  being  converted  into  auxiliary 
cruisers,  were  named  the  "Europe,"  "Asia," 
and  ' '  Africa. ' '  Then  the  Russians  contracted 
for  a  small  cruiser  which  they  called  the 
"Zabiaca"  (Mischief-maker).  This  ship  was 
a  regularly  designed  man-of-war  of  a  special 
type,  and  at  the  time  of  her  completion  was  the 
fastest  cruiser  in  the  world.  The  four  ships 
were  fitted  out  under  the  direction  of  their 
captains  respectively.  The  commander  of  the 
"Europe"  was  Captain  Grippenburg;  of  the 

215 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

"Asia,"  Captain  Avalan;  of  the  "Africa," 
Captain  Alexeieff ;  and  the  commander  of  the 
new  cruiser  "Zabiaca"  was  Captain  Loman. 

The  three  ships  purchased  and  converted 
into  commerce  destroyers  were,  so  far  as  in- 
ternal arrangement  and  outfit  were  concerned, 
altered  altogether  as  to  the  respective  ideas  of 
their  commanders,  and  they  all  differed  very 
much.  They  embodied  very  complete  and 
somewhat  ornamental  accommodations,  and 
every  modern  convenience  as  understood  at 
that  time  was  included  in  their  design. 

During  these  operations  the  show  of  secrecy 
was  maintained,  but  Captain  Gore-Jones  still 
zealously  endeavored  to  keep  himself  and  his 
government  au  courant  with  everything  that 
was  going  on.  In  pursuit  of  this  duty,  he 
managed  on  one  occasion  to  get  into  the  ship- 
yard in  the  disguise  of  a  workman  and  on  the 
pass  or  ticket  which  was  then  issued  for  the 
admission  of  workingmen.  He  was,  however, 
soon  observed  by  Captain  Avalan  of  the 
' '  Asia, ' '  who  at  once  reported  the  fact  of  his 
presence  to  the  office.  Captain  Gore- Jones  was 
then  politely  but  firmly  ushered  out  of  the 
shipyard  and  requested  not  to  enter  it  again. 

This  incident  of  Captain  Gore- Jones's  futile 
attempt  to  play  detective  attracted  wide  atten- 
tion and  much  comment.  Among  the  news- 

216 


MEMOIRS  OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

paper  articles  on  that  subject  was  one  in  the 
columns  of  the  Washington  Sunday  Capital, 
a  journal  then  having  national  reputation  for 
wit  and  humor.  The  material  part  of  it  was  as 
follows : 

"  Among  the  ornaments  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  is  a 
possible,  though  not  altogether  probable,  successor  of 
Nelson.  He  appears  in  the  Congressional  Directory  as 
Captain  Gore-Jones,  Naval  Attache  of  H.  B.  M.  Legation. 
Neither  one  of  his  two  names,  viewed  separately,  suggest 
aristocracy.  Both  viewed  together  in  normal  condition 
are  not  calculated  to  excite  suspicion  of  blue  blood.  Still, 
Gore-Jones  is  an  aristocrat.  The  hyphen  is  what  does  it. 
For  the  rest,  Gore-Jones,  being  an  English  naval  officer, 
is  a  Welshman  born  in  Ireland. 

"  His  duties  are  supposed  to  be  the  observing  of  things 
naval  in  this  country.  Being  unable  to  discover  a  navy, 
or  anything  resembling  one,  in  possession  of  the  United 
States,  it  occurred  to  him  that  perhaps  he  might  find 
here  a  navy '  or  part  of  one  belonging  to  some  other 
power.  In  fact,  it  was  rumored  in  the  Corps  Diploma- 
tique that  Gore-Jones  had  been  notified  that  he  must  either 
find  a  navy  in  this  country  somewhere  and  belonging  to 
somebody  or  lose  his  job.  Naturally,  his  first  quest  would 
be  at  our  navy-yards  (so-called),  but  at  none  of  these 
could  he  even  detect  symptoms  of  naval  intention.  All 
he  could  find  was  a  few  old  hawse-holes.  He  was  in- 
formed that  these  had  been  accumulated  by  that  jolly  old 
tar,  the  rotund  Robeson,  with  the  intention  of  building 
wooden  tubs  around  them  whenever  Grant  might  happen 
to  run  for  a  third  term.  He  was  also  informed  that  the 
present  reform  administration  of  the  venerable  Richard 

217 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

W.  Thompson,  of  Indiana,  viewed  these  hawse-holes  with 
suspicion.  This  was  because  they  were  hollow;  whereas 
the  venerable  reformer  believed  that  everything  about  a 
ship  should  be  solid. 

"  Despairing  of  the  navy-yards,  Gore-Jones  turned  his 
attention  to  places  where  merchant-ships  were  constructed. 
He  heard  that  the  Cramps,  of  Philadelphia,  were  building 
something  that  did  not  look  merchant-like.  He  resolved 
to  see  it.  Incidentally,  he  had  heard  rumors  that  the 
queer  craft  at  Cramps'  was  being  paid  for  along  by  in- 
stalments of  Russian  money. 

"  Trouble  was  brewing  between  Russia  and  England. 
Aha!  At  last!  Gore- Jones  had  struck  it  rich.  Let  him 
unearth  this  foul  conspiracy  to  imitate  in  1879  the  pious 
example  England  had  set  with  the  '  Alabama'  in  1863, 
and  he  would  surely  get  a  star.  He  might  even  get  a 
garter. 

"But  how?  Cramp  had  views  of  his  own  as  to  pri- 
vate property.  He  was  not  under  diplomatic  jurisdiction, 
as  were  the  navy-yards.  In  fact,  the  sign  was  out  at 
Cramps',  '  No  English  need  apply !'  This,  however,  was 
rather  incentive  than  obstacle  to  Gore-Jones.  He  needn't 
be  English.  Nature  had  endowed  him  with  an  assort- 
ment of  mental  and  bodily  peculiarities,  mostly  bodily, 
that  adapted  him  to  almost  any  nationality.  He  resolved 
to  be  an  Irishman.  He  at  once  began  an  arduous  prac- 
tice of  the  brogue.  First  he  had  to  get  rid  of  the  cockney 
drawl  which  is  enjoined  by  regulation  in  the  English 
navy.  Demosthenes  is  said  to  have  overcome  a  tendency 
to  stutter  by  orating  with  his  mouth  full  of  pebbles. 
Gore-Jones  got  rid  of  the  regulation  cockney  drawl  of  the 
English  navy  by  talking  with  his  mouth  full  of  Irish 
whiskey. 


218 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

"  Finally,  he  considered  all  preliminary  difficulties  over- 
come, and  began  a  siege  of  Cramps'  shipyard  by  regular 
approaches.  Finding  it  impregnable  to  front  attack,  he 
resolved  to  flank  it.  This  he  accomplished  by  taking  pos- 
session of  an  adjoining  lumber  yard  in  the  night-time. 
Early  in  the  morning  he  entered  the  fortress  by  its  sally- 
port. Success  was  in  his  grasp, — almost.  It  glittered, 
then  it  glimmered,  then  it  fizzled  out.  There  was  one 
peculiarity  he  couldn't  overcome.  That  was  his  remarka- 
ble resemblance  in  form  and  figure  to  '  Punch's'  standard 
cartoon  of  '  John  Bull.'  He  could  smoke  a  short,  black 
pipe  with  the  bowl  turned  down  equal  to  the  most  Corko- 
nian  Irishman  in  Fishtown.  He  could  also  fairly  imitate 
that  peculiar  accent  produced  by  filtering  conversation 
through  the  teeth,  commonly  known  as  the  brogue,  particu- 
larly when  the  conversation  was  diluted  with  a  mouthful 
of  Irish  whiskey.  But  he  couldn't  escape  his  shape.  One 
of  the  Russian  officers  on  duty  at  Cramps',  with  that 
keenness  characteristic  of  Napoleon's  '  scratched  Tartar/ 
penetrated  all  his  disguises.  Then  he  was  ignominiously 
ejected  by  one  of  those  decrepit  men  who,  when  they  get 
too  old  to  build  ships,  are  usually  employed  by  Cramps' 
as  watchmen.  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi.  Exit  Gore-Jones. 
But  he  will  remain  with  us.  He  will  hold  his  job.  He 
deserves  to.  He  has  done  what  no  American  has  ever 
been  able  to  do  since  the  collapse  of  the  Rebellion.  He 
has  discovered  a  navy — an  actual,  real,  live  navy — in  the 
United  States.  The  fact  that  it  is  a  Russian  navy  and 
not  an  American  one,  humiliating  as  it  may  be  to  us,  is 
a  huge  feather  in  the  cap  to  him.  We  hasten  to  doff  our 
editorial  chapeau  to  Gore-Jones.  We  are  confident  he 
will  get  his  star.  We  fervently  hope  he  may  get  also  the 
garter." 


219 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

At  this  point  Mr.  Cramp's  own  narrative 
of  the  subsequent  proceedings  will  be  more 
graphic  and  interesting  than  any  other  form 
of  description  could  be : 

"  Great  activity  marked  the  progress  of  alterations  and 
fitting  out  of  the  vessels.  The  yard  was  filled  with  men, 
some  working  night  and  day,  and  the  vessels  were  all 
fitted  out  at  a  very  early  date,  considering  what  had  to 
be  done.  They  were  more  than  rebuilt.  Each  ship  was 
fitted  out  for  an  admiral  and  the  accommodations  for 
officers  and  men  were  ample.  They  were  full  sparred 
and  square-rigged. 

"  The  indications  that  the  English  would  join  the  Sul- 
tan at  any  time  still  prevailed  at  the  time  the  vessels  were 
ready  to  go  to  sea.  When  the  'Europe,'  'Asia,'  and 
'  Africa'  were  ready  to  depart,  they  had  to  go  without 
any  guns,  because  all  the  loose  guns  that  the  Russians 
could  spare  from  the  navy  were  mounted  on  forts,  and 
none  could  be  appropriated  for  these  ships,  so  they  had 
to  depart  without  guns.  They  expected  when  they  came 
here  to  be  able  to  purchase  guns  in  this  country  from 
some  of  the  gun  manufacturers,  and  they  were  very 
much  amazed  to  find  that  our  government  had  not  per- 
mitted any  gun  factories  to  exist  here.  So  they  had  to  go 
without. 

"  The  captains  all  showed  great  determination  and 
pluck,  but  their  going  away  was  not  under  the  conditions 
usually  attending  the  departure  of  war  vessels.  They  ex- 
pected when  they  left  that  England  would  openly  espouse 
the  cause  of  Turkey  before  they  arrived  at  the  other  side, 
and  they  were  all  prepared  to  sink  their  ships  rather  than 
surrender.  They  felt  that  their  case  was  particularly 

220 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

hard  and  that  their  hands  were  tied,  and  having  no  guns 
they  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  They  could  not 
find  much  satisfaction  of  sinking  with  their  own  ships 
unless  they  had  done  some  damage  to  the  enemy,  so  under 
the  circumstances  their  sailing  was  a  very  sad  occasion. 

"  The  '  Zabiaca'  being  a  new  vessel,  it  took  longer  to 
finish  her,  and  by  the  time  she  was  finished  the  war  with 
Turkey  was  over,  and  they  managed  to  get  guns  to  put 
aboard  her. 

"  The  fitting  out  of  this  small  fleet  of  commerce  de- 
stroyers had  the  effect  that  the  Russians  originally  in- 
tended it  to  have.  It  deterred  the  English  from  going 
in  with  the  Sultan.  The  merchant  fleet  of  England  is  too 
great  and  too  vulnerable  to  permit  their  country  to  go  to 
war  for  a  trifle.  England  would  suffer  more  in  a  war 
than  any  other  nation  on  account  of  the  large  number 
of  merchant-men  under  her  flag;  and  it  was  because  of 
the  great  number  of  her  ships  and  the  danger  and  loss 
from  their  destruction  that  made  the  British  government 
and  its  people  labor  so  hard  to  have  our  navigation  laws 
repealed,  so  that  a  fictitious  sale  could  be  made  and  the 
vessels  of  their  merchant  marine  could  be  put  under  the 
protection  of  the  American  flag.  As  two  of  our  states- 
men said  (Henry  C.  Carey  and  Judge  Kelley),  'As  long 
as  our  navigation  laws  remain  as  they  are,  England  will 
be  under  perpetual  bonds  of  indemnity  to  keep  the 
peace  with  all  the  small  nations  in  the  world,  because 
their  merchant-ships  cannot  fly  to  the  protection  of  the 
American  flag.'  In  this  case  the  English  saw  the  scheme 
of  the  '  Alabama'  applied  to  themselves. 

"  These  vessels  went  abroad,  and  most  of  them  became 
flag-ships  on  foreign  stations. 

"  The  '  Europe'  and  '  Africa'  became  flag-ships,  and  the 
'Asia'  was  afterward  taken  by  the  Grand  Duke  Alexis, 

221 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

who  made  a  yacht  of  her,  and  a  very  handsome  one  she 
made.     She  remains  the  Grand  Duke's  yacht  to  this  day. 

"  The  rest  of  the  history  of  this  transaction  is  generally 
known.  The  vessels  were  fitted  out,  went  to  sea,  and 
made  their  way  to  Russian  ports  without  interruption, 
and  a  final  treaty  of  peace  was  effected  through  the  Con- 
gress of  European  Powers  at  Berlin.  I  believe  that  the 
strongest  argument  the  Russian  government  could  offer  to 
persuade  Great  Britain  against  intervention  was  the  fit- 
ting out  of  these  vessels  as  commerce  destroyers  in  our 
shipyard. 

"  The  next  year  during  a  trip  abroad  I  visited  Paris.  I 
found  there  Captain  Semetschkin,  who  told  me  that  the 
Grand  Duke  Constantine  was  in  the  city  and  would  like 
to  receive  me.  The  captain  arranged  that  I  should  call 
the  next  morning,  and  at  the  same  time  informed  me  that 
the  Grand  Duke  had  given  a  contract  for  a  new  ship, 
afterward  called  the  'Livadia,'  designed  by  Admiral 
Popoff  and  Dr.  Zimmerman,  to  be  built  at  the  Fail-field 
Works  at  Glasgow.  Admiral  Popoff  was  a  notable  ex- 
ample of  that  type  of  man  to  which,  for  example,  De 
Lesseps,  and  Keely  of  motor  fame,  and  Eads  belong. 
Such  men  affect  an  almost  celestial  knowledge  in  every- 
thing they  undertake,  and  that  affectation,  coupled  with  an 
apparent  sincerity  of  manner,  earnestness  of  purpose,  and 
unflinching  nerve,  often  enables  them  to  captivate  people 
of  good  information  on  general  topics,  but  unacquained 
with  the  technique  of  engineering  problems;  and  who 
therefore  are  unable  to  detect  the  cunning  charlatanry  of 
such  pretenders. 

"  Admiral  Popoff  had  fascinated  the  Grand  Duke  Con- 
stantine with  his  peculiar  type  of  war-ship,  which  was  a 
circular  floating  turret  of  large  dimensions  that  could 
be  revolved  by  means  of  her  propellers,  so  that,  porcu 

222 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

pine-like,  she  could  present  her  'bristles'  in  every  direc- 
tion to  an  enemy. 

"  Quite  a  number  of  the  Popoff  type  of  floating  batteries 
were  built,  and  a  dry-dock  was  constructed  for  their 
special  accommodation  when  repairs  might  be  necessary. 
The  '  Livadia'  was  the  last  production  of  Admiral  Popoff, 
who,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  designed  her  with  the 
assistance  of  Dr.  Zimmerman,  of  Holland.  She  was  not 
circular  like  her  predecessors,  but  was  oval  in  shape,  the 
transverse  diameter  being  almost  but  not  quite  equal  to 
the  conjugate,  and  she  was  fitted  with  three  screws  entirely 
under  the  bottom.  Captain  Semetschkin  informed  me 
that  the  Grand  Duke  was  much  impressed  with  this  new 
design,  and  that  nothing  could  shake  his  belief  in  *ts 
success.  Being  thus  forewarned,  I  could  avoid  giving  him 
an  adverse  criticism  in  case  he  brought  the  subject  up  by 
simply  exercising  a  little  diplomacy,  as  it  was  not  my 
desire  or  intention  to  cross  his  predilections  in  any  way. 
When  I  called  on  the  Grand  Duke  at  the  Russian  Lega- 
tion, I  found  him  reclining  on  a  sofa,  having  severely 
injured  his  leg  in  a  fall.  He  arose  as  I  entered  and  in- 
vited me  to  take  a  seat  in  front  of  him.  Being  full  of 
the  subject,  he  immediately  asked  me  if  I  would  visit 
Glasgow  soon,  and  when  I  stated  that  I  intended  to  go 
there  at  an  early  date  he  gave  me  a  letter  to  Captain 
Goulaieff,  Russian  Naval  Constructor,  who  he  said  had 
charge  of  the  construction  of  the  new  '  Livadia/  and  that 
he  had  had  prepared  a  working  model  fifteen  feet  long 
with  engines  complete  as  an  experiment,  and  he  wanted 
me  to  see  it. 

"  I  am  sure  he  fully  believed  in  the  successful  future 
of  this  type.  He  stated  that  he  was  confident  that  it 
would  revolutionize  merchant-ship  as  well  as  war-ship 

223 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

construction,  and  his  enthusiasm  was  unbounded  in  the 
contemplation  of  it. 

"When  he  had  exhausted  the  subject,  which  took  some 
time,  in  elegant  English  and  with  fascinating  fluency  of 
speech,  he  changed  the  subject,  and  I  was  subjected  to  one 
of  the  most  severe  examinations  in  naval  construction, 
equipment,  and  technical  practice  that  I  ever  encountered. 
Of  course,  there  was  a  change  from  my  attitude  of  listener 
to  that  of  a  sort  of  principal  in  the  conversation  that 
followed. 

"  In  referring  in  a  complimentary  way  to  the  new 
fleet  that  we  had  turned  out, — the  outcome  of  the  '  Cim- 
bria'  expedition, — the  Grand  Duke  stated  that  one  quality 
in  them  that  impressed  him  more  than  any  other  was  the 
large  coal  carrying  capabilities  of  the  vessels,  and  he 
asked  me  how  I  explained  it.  I  stated  that  the  models 
of  the  ships  were  of  the  best  American  type  with  certain 
improvements  of  our  own. 

"  Expressing  himself  in  a  complimentary  manner  as  to 
what  we  had  done  and  as  to  what  I  said,  he  then  put  the 
question  to  me  with  much  '  empressement'  and  sympathetic 
interest  of  manner :  '  Mr.  Cramp,  from  what  school  of 
naval  architecture  did  you  graduate?' 

"  Fully  appreciating  all  that  was  involved  in  the  ques- 
tion from  his  stand-point  and  what  he  considered  of  para- 
mount importance, — the  necessity  of  the  Technical  School 
for  Naval  Officials — I  was  prepared  for  the  question,  and 
determined  that  my  answer  should  be  apropos;  and  that 
I  would  not  permit  myself  and  my  profession  to  be  dis- 
paraged, knowing  that  in  Russia  and  on  the  Continent 
generally  there  were  no  great  private  shipyards,  and  that 
if  a  naval  architect  or  ship-builder  there  did  not  graduate 
from  a  technical  school,  he  was  practically  nowhere  at 
that  time.  Trained  as  I  was  in  Philadelphia  in  a  first- 

224 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

class  shipyard,  surrounded  by  others  of  the  same  kind 
and  in  close  contact  with  New  York,  which  city  occupied 
the  head  and  front  of  the  ship-building  profession  in  the 
world,  I  felt  myself  doubly  armed  and  more  than  confi- 
dent when  my  answer  came  promptly  after  the  question. 

"  I  said :  '  Your  Imperial  Highness !  when  I  graduated 
from  my  father's  shipyard  as  a  naval  architect  and  ship- 
builder, there  were  no  schools  of  naval  architecture.  I 
belong  to  that  race  which  created  them!' 

"  This  unexpected  answer,  and  the  gravity  of  my 
manner,  astonished  for  an  instant  the  Grand  Duke,  who 
glanced  at  Captain  Semetschkin,  and  rising  to  his  feet 
he  bowed  profoundly  to  me  and  sat  down. 

"  The  history  of  the  '  Livadia'  is  well  known, — encoun- 
tering a  storm  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay  she  was  somewhat 
battered  up  under  the  bottom  forward.  On  account  of 
her  peculiar  shape  and  light  draught  she  did  not  respond 
quickly  to  the  motions  of  a  head  sea;  when  her  bow  was 
lifted  clear  of  the  water,  the  following  seas  would  strike 
the  bottom  very  severely  before  she  would  come  down. 

"After  serving  at  Sebastopol  somewhat  under  a  cloud, 
she  was  laid  up;  the  propeller  engines  were  ultimately 
put  in  three  new  gun-boats." 

The  departure  of  the  "Cimbria"  from  Rus- 
sia was  a  great  event  there,  and  all  the  officers 
who  left  Russia  on  that  expedition  have  con- 
tinued ever  since  to  meet  yearly  on  March  28 
(0.  S.),  that  being  the  date  of  their  departure 
from  Russia.  On  March  29, 1898,  twenty  years 
afterward,  Mr.  Cramp  happened  to  be  in  Rus- 
sia arranging  for  the  contract  between  his 
Company  and  the  Russian  government  for  the 

225  15 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

construction  of  the  battleship  "Retvizan"  and 
the  cruiser  "Variag."  A  committee  of  offi- 
cers at  the  time  called  and  invited  him  to  be 
present  at  their  annual  banquet  as  a  guest. 
This  committee  was  composed  of  some  of  the 
younger  officers  who  were  on  the  "Cimbria" 
expedition.  They  stated  that  no  guest  had 
ever  been  invited  to  one  of  these  banquets,  but 
they  considered  Mr.  Cramp's  connection  with 
the  fitting  out  of  that  fleet  entitled  him  to  the 
distinction  of  being  the  only  guest  they  ever 
had  on  one  of  those  occasions.  He  found  there 
Vice-Admiral  Avalan,  the  Assistant  of  the 
Minister  of  Marine  and  now  Minister  of  Ma- 
rine,— he  had  been  captain  of  the  "Asia;" 
Admiral  Grippenburg,  who  had  been  captain 
of  the  "Europe;"  and  also  about  thirty  of 
the  sixty  officers  who  left  on  the  "Cimbria"  on 
its  first  voyage.  Of  those  absent,  a  great  many 
had  died,  and  some,  of  course,  were  away. 
Admiral  Alexeieff  was  in  China. 

Mr.  Qramp  had  begun  his  overtures  with  a 
view  to  naval  construction  for  Russia  as  early 
as  the  fall  of  1893.  During  that  period  the 
Russian  Atlantic  fleet  was  present  in  our 
waters  to  take  part  in  celebrating  the  four 
hundredth  anniversary  of  Columbus'  dis- 
covery. The  Grand  Duke  Alexander  was  an 
officer  in  that  squadron,  which  during  its  stay 

226 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

in  our  waters  was  at  anchor  for  some  time  in 
the  Delaware,  and  its  officers  freely  visited  the 
shipyard,  carefully  inspecting  and  examining 
all  the  work  then  going  on.  The  general  result 
was  that  they  became  enthusiastic  with  regard 
to  the  development  of  the  art  in  this  country 
and  with  the  character  of  work  being  done  to- 
ward the  rebuilding  of  our  navy,  and  they  were 
also  profoundly  impressed  with  the  facilities 
of  Cramps'  shipyard  which  might  be  utilized 
for  increase  of  the  Russian  navy.  They 
frankly  said,  however,  that  just  at  that  mo- 
ment it  did  not  seem  to  be  the  policy  of  their 
government  to  have  important  work  done  for 
the  Russian  navy  in  foreign  shipyards.  This 
was,  of  course,  true,  for  at  that  time  Russia 
was  not  building  any  kind  of  naval  construc- 
tion more  important  than  torpedo  boat  de- 
stroyers outside  of  her  own  domain.  During 
the  following  years  (1894,  1895,  1896)  certain 
correspondence  passed  between  Mr.  Cramp 
and  high  officials  in  the  Russian  Ministry  of 
Marine ;  though  little  progress  was  made  dur- 
ing those  years  except  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  Russians  in  a  vivid  and  forceful  manner 
to  the  capacities  and  facilities  which  he  con- 
trolled, and  to  strengthen  the  entente  cordiale 
which  had  so  long  existed  between  the  Russian 
naval  authorities  and  himself. 

227 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

At  this  point  it  becomes  necessary  to  take  up 
a  new  branch  of  the  general  subject,  which  is 
that  of  foreign  work. 

While  the  correspondence  with  the  authori- 
ties of  the  Russian  government  above  referred 
to  was  going  on,  our  Minister  at  Tokio,  Mr. 
Dunn,  called  the  attention  of  the  Japanese  gov- 
ernment to  the  fact  that  their  expenditure  of 
vast  sums  of  money  on  a  new  navy  in  England 
principally,  and  also  in  France  and  Germany 
on  a  smaller  scale,  was  well  known;  and  in 
a  diplomatic  way  he  suggested  that  some  of 
that  kind  of  patronage  bestowed  upon  the  ship- 
building interests  in  the  United  States  would 
be  extremely  gratifying  to  the  American  peo- 
ple. He  also  thought  that  the  popularity  of 
such  a  project  in  this  country  would  be  made 
universal  if  part  of  the  proposed  patronage 
should  be  awarded  to  the  Atlantic  and  part  to 
the  Pacific  coast.  Minister  Dunn's  suggestion 
was  taken  up  by  the  American  Trading  Com- 
pany in  the  Orient,  and  their  joint  advocacy 
of  the  scheme  was  crowned  with  success.  Act- 
ing upon  intimation  of  such  a  suggestion,  the 
Cramp  Company  and  the  Union  Iron  Works 
of  San  Francisco  sent  agents  to  Japan,  and 
when  they  returned,  contracts  were  made  with 
the  Japanese  Minister  Toru  Hoshi,  represent- 
ing the  Imperial  Government,  and  the  two 

228 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

ship-building  companies  above  mentioned.  The 
ship  built  by  Cramp  is  now  known  in  the 
Japanese  navy  list  as  the  ' '  Kasagi, ' '  and  that 
built  by  the  Union  Iron  Works  of  San  Fran- 
cisco as  the  "Chitose." 

Up  to  that  time  the  Japanese  navy  had  been 
built  almost  exclusively  in  England,  and  with 
unimportant  exceptions  wholly  by  Armstrong. 
Of  the  vessels  which  won  the  naval  battles  on 
the  Yellow  Sea  in  the  Chino-Japanese  War  of 
1894  almost  all,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
torpedo  craft,  were  built  by  Armstrong  &  Com- 
pany at  Elswick. 

There  was,  however,  one  difficulty  in  the  way 
of  Japanese  patronage  of  American  shipyards 
in  the  construction  of  naval  vessels.  This  diffi- 
culty soon  came  to  the  surface,  but  was  averted 
by  the  urgency  of  diplomatic  considerations. 
It  grew  out  of  the  fact  that  the  money  which 
Japan  was  using  to  augment  her  navy  was  that 
which  she  realized  from  the  Chinese  Indemnity 
paid  under  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of 
Shimonoseki.  This  indemnity  had  been  fur- 
nished by  Eussia  and  financed  in  England  or 
by  English  capitalists;  and  it  appeared  that 
there  was  a  sort  of  tacit,  if  not  express,  under- 
standing that  most  of  it  was  to  be  spent  in 
naval  construction,  and  that  the  ships  which 
it  was  to  pay  for  should  be  built  in  English 

229 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

shipyards.  However,  the  Japanese  naval  au- 
thorities were  extremely  desirous  of  adding 
one  or  more  America-built  ships  to  their  fleet ; 
their  idea,  from  the  professional  point  of  view, 
being  that,  as  they  were  then  about  prepared, 
or  had  been  for  some  time  engaged  in  pre- 
paring, to  build  ships  at  home  in  their  own 
dock-yards,  the  possession  of  one  or  more 
American-built  ships  would  be  of  value  as 
samples,  models,  or  object  lessons.  Finally, 
after  considerable  negotiation  carried  on 
partly  with  or  through  the  Japanese  Minister 
at  Washington,  and  partly  at  head-quarters 
in  Tokio,  the  Japanese  government  awarded 
a  contract  to  Cramp  for  the  construction 
of  a  first-class  protected  cruiser  of  the 
highest  attainable  speed.  This  contract  was 
signed  by  Mr.  Cramp  on  behalf  of  the 
Company  and  by  Toru  Hoshi,  the  Minister, 
on  behalf  of  his  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of 
Japan.  The  vessel,  the  "Kasagi,"  was 
originally  designed  to  be  of  about  5000  tons 
displacement,  but  was  modified  to  a  displace- 
ment of  about  5500  tons.  The  guaranty  was 
17,000  indicated  horse-power  and  twenty-two 
and  one-half  (22£)  knots  speed,  to  be  deter- 
mined by  four  runs,  two  each  way  over  a  meas- 
ured course  ten  knots  long.  Upon  her  com- 
pletion the  ship  was  taken  in  charge  by  the 

230 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

Japanese  captain  and  crew,  and  upon  her 
arrival  home  immediately  took  a  conspicuous 
place  in  the  Japanese  navy.  Although  this 
vessel  gave  the  most  profound  satisfaction  in 
every  respect,  and  although  she  had  been  built 
in  the  United  States  at  a  cost  that  compared 
quite  favorably  with  relative  contract  prices 
elsewhere,  the  Japanese  did  not  repeat  the  ex- 
periment for  reasons  already  intimated.  In 
fact,  all  the  influence  of  British  diplomacy 
upon  the  policy  of  Japan  was  successfully  em- 
ployed in  securing  the  maintenance  of  the 
British  alliance  in  opposition  to  the  advance 
of  the  Russians  in  the  direction  of  the  Pacific 
and  to  retain  the  monoply  that  English  ship- 
builders, principally  Armstrong,  had  pre- 
viously enjoyed,  and  to  prevent  or  prohibit 
the  construction  of  any  more  vessels  of  war  in 
the  United  States  or  in  American  shipyards. 
Mr.  Cramp  continued  his  active  correspond- 
ence with  the  Russian  authorities  with  con- 
stantly increasing  prospects  of  success.  So 
promising  had  the  situation  become  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1897,  that  Mr.  Cramp,  who  had  gone  to 
Europe  to  attend  the  Jubilee  Session  of  the 
British  Institution  of  Naval  Architects  and 
Marine  Engineers,  concluded  to  make  a  flying 
visit  to  St.  Petersburg  before  the  meeting.  His 
stay  there  was  not  long,  only  about  a  week. 

231 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

His  object  was  to  survey  the  ground  and  to 
ascertain  definitely  what  prospect  there  was  for 
the  then  rumored  intention  of  the  Russian 
government  to  put  forth  a  large  and  formid- 
able naval  programme  during  the  ensuing 
winter. 

Mr.  Cramp  returned  to  England  from  St. 
Petersburg,  and  took  part  in  the  many  meet- 
ings of  the  Jubilee  Session  referred  to.  One  of 
the  events  of  that  occasion  was  a  visit  to  the 
great  Elswick  Shipyards  and  Ordnance  Works 
of  Armstrong  &  Company,  which  Mr.  Cramp 
himself  describes  in  a  private  letter  as  follows : 

VISIT   TO   THE   ARMSTRONG   WORKS. 

"  The  officers  of  the  Society  of  Naval  Architects  and 
Marine  Engineers  of  the  United  States  with  certain  offi- 
cers of  the  American  navy  were  invited  to  meet  the  repre- 
sentative Naval  Architects  and  Marine  Engineers  of  for- 
eign nations  and  participate  in  the  meetings  of  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  these  bodies  in  London  during  the 
month  of  July,  1897. 

"  After  various  entertainments  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Institute  and  a  visit  to  and  reception  by  the  Queen  at 
Windsor  Castle,  the  party  went  to  Scotland;  after  visit- 
ing Glasgow  and  stopping  at  Edinborough,  where  Sir 
Andrew  Noble  and  Philip  Watt,  of  the  Armstrong  Works, 
met  them;  they  were  to  be  escorted  to  the  Works  in  the 
afternoon.  Feeling  sure  that  a  visit  of  that  kind  to  such 
a  shipyard  with  a  great  crowd  and  in  such  limited  time 
would  be  very  unsatisfactory,  and  its  results  necessarily 

232 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

incomplete,  I  concluded  to  go  on  to  Newcastle  the  night 
before  and  make  an  exhaustive  visit  to  the  works  there 
before  the  arrival  of  the  large  crowd.  This  being  the 
greatest  shipyard  in  the  world,  I  desired  to  examine  its 
new  constructions  in  progress,  with  regard  to  their  novel- 
ties in  device  and  design,  in  my  own  way  and  my  own 
time,  without  being  carried  along  by  a  great  crowd  as  in 
a  'personally  conducted'  tour.  I  therefore  went  on  to 
Newcastle  the  night  previous  to  the  projected  visit.  When 
I  arrived  at  the  hotel  in  Newcastle,  I  found  a  Russian 
Naval  Architect,  Mr.  Tchernigovsky,  in  the  act  of  regis- 
tering, and  had  gone  there  for  the  same  reasons  that  I 
had,  and  we  concluded  to  go  to  the  works  together.  When 
we  arrived  at  the  Armstrong  Works  and  had  registered 
our  names  and  had  asked  to  be  conducted  through  the 
works,  we  found  that  all  the  principals  had  gone  to  Edin- 
borough,  to  return  with  visitors,  and,  after  some  hesitation 
on  the  part  of  the  official  in  charge,  we  were  escorted 
through  the  works  by  one  of  the  clerks. 

"  We  found  that  there  were  eighteen  war  vessels  on 
the  stocks!  a  list  of  which  was  found  in  the  programme 
of  the  visit  given  us  in  the  afternoon.  The  destination  of 
the  majority  of  the  ships  was  known,  but  not  indicated 
in  the  programme.  Before  we  left  Newcastle,  I  was  en- 
abled to  locate  all  of  the  ships. 

"  We  had  not  gone  far  in  the  shipyard  before  I  saw  a 
7-inch  armor  plate  suspended  on  slings  ready  for  hoisting 
in  its  place  on  what  appeared  at  first  to  be  a  high-speed, 
large  protected  cruiser,  but  on  ascending  the  brow  stage 
we  found  it  to  be  an  armored  cruiser  of  advanced  type 
and  speed  and  with  very  heavy  armor  for  that  type  of 
vessel. 

"When  we  asked  the  young  man  as  to  the  nationality 
of  the  ship  he  could  not  tell,  but  stated  that  was  one  of 

233 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

the  ships  building  on  account  of  the  firm.  This  was  as 
interesting  to  Mr.  Tchernigovsky  as  it  was  to  me,  and  our 
examination  was  rather  prolonged,  no  objection  being 
made  by  the  young  man  who  escorted  us,  who  not  being 
a  mechanic  was  indifferent  as  to  our  actions.  We  found 
before  we  left  the  works  that  they  were  two  or  three 
Battleships  of  advanced  type  and  superior  model  and 
three  or  four  armored  cruisers,  whose  destination  was  un- 
known to  the  people  at  the  works  outside  of  the  office. 
There  was  one  thing  that  we  were  sure  of,  that  these 
ships  were  not  building  by  the  company  for  sale,  and  that 
there  was  an  important  mystery  to  be  solved. 

"  By  the  time  we  returned  to  the  office,  we  found  that 
the  Edinborough  crowd  had  arrived,  ready  for  luncheon, 
after  which  the  whole  party  went  through  the  works; 
there  was  but  little  time  to  see  what  was  going  on,  and 
the  character  and  the  existence  of  these  important  ships 
entirely  escaped  the  notice  of  the  visitors.  There  were 
a  number  of  Japanese  and  Chinese  officers  present  with 
the  visitors. 

"  We  had  for  some  time  before  this  visit  secured  pos- 
session in  China  of  copies  of  certain  plans  and  specifica- 
tions for  an  advanced  type  of  armored  cruiser,  and  after 
an  examination  we  found  that  they  were  proposals  of  the 
Thames  Iron  Works  for  raising  a  loan  and  for  building 
a  fleet  for  the  Chinese  navy. 

"  The  resemblance  between  the  armored  cruisers  build- 
ing and  the  Chinese  plans  was  so  great,  that  I  am  sure  the 
Japanese  ships  were  made  from  copies  of  the  Thames 
Iron  Works  drawings.  The  whole  scheme  of  the  Thames 
Iron  Works  was  excellent  and  feasible,  and  the  Chinese 
lost  a  fine  navy  by  not  accepting  the  offer. 

"  I  thought  that  the  construction  of  such  an  advanced 
type  of  war  vessel  under  the  conditions  was  of  sufficient 

234 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

importance  to  inform  Lieutenant  Colwell,  our  Naval  At- 
tache at  the  United  States  Embassy.  When  I  called  on 
him,  he  seemed  surprised  to  find  that  I  had  made  the 
'  discovery ;'  and  he  stated  that  he  had  wired  a  cipher 
despatch  to  Washington  describing  the  ships,  and  that 
they  were  for  the  Japanese,  and  that  he  had  been  informed 
of  it  by  the  Chinese  Naval  Attache,  who  was  a  very  bright 
man  and  whose  knowledge  of  the  fact  was  from  an  abso- 
lutely correct  source.  Mr.  Colwell  stated  that  no  one  but 
the  Chinese  Attache  and  himself  was  aware  of  it  outside 
of  the  Armstrong's  and  the  British  government.  Of 
course,  the  last  persons  to  be  suspected  of  knowing  any- 
thing about  the  matter  were  the  Japanese.  Mr.  Colwell 
was  well  posted  as  to  the  object  of  the  great  enterprise. 

"  It  was  easy  for  Armstrong's  to  keep  a  matter  of  this 
kind  quiet,  as  they  had  built  so  many  war  vessels  for 
various  countries,  and  with  eighteen  on  the  stocks  they 
would  not  be  noticed;  and,  besides,  they  were  never  with- 
out one  or  two  vessels  under  construction  for  sale. 

"  The  character  of  the  vessels  and  the  information  that 
I  gathered  from  Mr.  Colwell  and  the  Chinese  Attache, 
and  the  fact  that  London  was  filled  with  foreign  naval 
officers,  diplomats,  and  others  in  attendance  on  the  festivi- 
ties, gave  me  opportunities  to  secure  much  important  in- 
formation as  to  what  was  going  on  behind  the  scenes. 
The  Japanese  in  numbers  and  importance  exceeded  the 
delegates  of  the  other  nationalities  that  participated  in 
the  Naval  Architects'  ceremonies,  and  they  were  treated 
in  the  most  obsequious  and  deferential  manner  by  all  of 
the  British  dignitaries,  ship-builders,  ordnance  and  armor 
makers,  dealers  in  supplies,  and  the  English  people  gen- 
erally. 

"  Soon  after  the  Armstrong  visit  I  met  a  Japanese 
nobleman,  Marquis  Ito,  or  lendo,  at  the  Lord  Mayor's 

235 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

reception.  He  was  the  head  and  front  of  the  Japanese 
contingent,  judging  from  the  amount  of  adulation  that 
prominent  British  dignitaries  and  ship-builders  accorded 
him.  Desiring  to  be  sure  of  the  facts  in  relation  to  the 
Japanese  ships  at  the  Armstrong  Works  I  accosted  him 
with  an  air  of  knowing  all  about  it  and  as  if  there  was 
no  use  of  his  denying  it, — hurrying  along  with  my  de- 
scription in  elaborate  detail,  giving  him  no  opportunity 
to  reply, — I  said :  '  Oh,  Marquis  Ito !  I  have  just  ex- 
amined your  very  fine  ships  at  the  Armstrong  Works. 
They  are  superior  to  anything  in  any  navy,  British  or 
any  other,  and  with  the  speed  of  twenty  knots  and  7-inch 
armor  and  excellent  model,  etc.;'  running  along  without 
giving  him  time  to  reply  until  I  got  out  of  breath  and 
stopped. 

"  During  my  talk  his  face  was  a  study.  It  was  im- 
possible to  note  or  guess  at  his  impressions,  and  I  was 
extremely  doubtful  as  to  the  result;  but  the  fact  that  we 
were  then  building  a  Japanese  war  vessel,  the  '  Kasagi,' 
led  him  to  believe  that  I  knew  something,  particularly  as 
my  elaborate  description  in  detail  of  the  qualities  of  the 
ships  under  construction  was  correct;  so,  being  sure  that 
I  was  thoroughly  posted,  he  made  no  denial,  but  bowed 
smilingly  and  with  an  air  of  approval.  I  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  discussing  the  new  fleet  with  Mr.  Tchernigovsky 
after  we  left  the  Armstrong  Works,  but  from  information 
I  subsequently  received  I  was  satisfied  that  his  early  visit 
to  Newcastle  was  not  accidental. 

"  The  discovery  of  the  construction  of  this  fleet  was  the 
origin  of  my  article  on  '  The  Coming  Sea  Power*  in  the 
North  American  Review  of  October,  1897. 

"  I  ascertained  while  in  London,  from  additional  sources 
not  to  be  mentioned  here,  that  the  construction  of  these 
ships  was  undertaken  in  consequence  of  a  secret  alliance 

236 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

between  Great  Britain  and  Japan  to  prevent  the  United 
States  from  securing  possession  of  the  Sandwich  Islands 
and  to  head  off  the  Russians  in  the  Pacific,  etc. 

"  The  great  engineering  strike  in  Great  Britain  during 
this  time  delayed  the  delivery  of  the  Japanese  vessels  and 
the  construction  of  the  great  fleet  of  British  ships  then 
under  way  for  two  or  three  years,  and  the  whole  thing 
fell  through  because  the  favorable  opportunity  had 
passed.  The  delay  gave  them  time  to  think  it  over.  And, 
besides,  we  were  beginning  to  make  a  show  of  naval 
power.  It  was  also  at  this  time  that  the  Germans  were 
beginning  to  show  their  practical  aspirations  in  the  di- 
rection of  '  sea  power.' 

"  The  construction  of  the  ships  and  their  object  was 
known  also  to  Captain  Gregorovitch,  Russian  Naval 
Attache  in  London,  and  that  probably  accounted  for  the 
visit  of  Mr.  Tchernigovsky. 

"  One  interesting  circumstance  in  connection  with  this 
strike  and  its  consequences  was  the  fact  that  under  the 
operations  of  the  strike  a  very  large  number  of  the  best 
English  shipyard  workmen  and  engineers  went  to  Ger- 
many, and  became  permanently  located  there  in  the 
shipyards ;  and  while  their  absence  crippled  Great  Britain, 
they  more  than  any  other  cause  advanced  the  construction 
of  the  German  navy;  so  that  while  the  leaders  of  the 
strike  in  England  gained  nothing  by  it  there  for  the 
engineers  but  disaster  to  themselves  and  their  country, 
they  were  conspicuously  instrumental  in  assisting  the  most 
powerful  rival  of  England 

"  It  would  be  an  interesting  subject  for  reflection  or 
discussion  as  to  what  might  have  been  the  consequences  if 
the  strike  had  not  occurred  and  the  Japanese  and  British 
fleets  had  been  finished  two  years  before  they  were. 

"At  the  time  these  fleets  were  started  there  existed 
237 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

throughout  the  naval  world  a  lull  in  war-vessel  output,  par- 
ticularly so  in  Russia  and  the  United  States,  until  some 
time  after  the  announcement  of  the  Japanese  policy.  The 
Germans  had,  however,  been  much  in  advance  in  the  way 
of  waking  up  and  realizing  the  real  situation." 

The  programme  of  the  visit  to  the  Arm- 
strong Works  embraced  the  following  list  of 
war  vessels  then  building  there.  This  pro- 
gramme did  not  indicate  the  destination  of 
any  of  these  ships,  so  far  as  they  were  being 
built  for  foreign  account,  and  that  designation 
included  all  of  them  except  one  third-class 
cruiser  of  2800  tons  displacement  building 
there  for  the  English  navy.  Therefore  the 
destinations  of  all  war-ships  then  building  at 
the  Armstrong  Works  which  are  noted  in  the 
margin  of  the  programme  are  those  dropped 
from  other  sources  of  information,  all  of 
which  turned  out  to  be  absolutely  true.  It 
should  be  explained  here  that  the  policy  of 
the  Armstrong  Company  in  building  vessels 
of  war  for  foreign  navies  always  was  to  keep 
their  destination  secret  as  long  as  possible. 
And  here  it  may  be  added  that  Brassey's 
"Naval  Annual,"  the  most  comprehensive 
work  of  its  kind  that  ever  existed,  did  not  in 
its  issue  for  the  year  1897  contain  the  destina- 
tion of  any  of  these  ships  building  at  Arm- 
strongs for  foreign  account,  and  that  the  same 

238 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 


For 


work  for  the  next  year  did  give  their  destina- 
tions based  upon  the  disclosures  made  by  Mr. 
Cramp  in  connection  with  Commander  Colwell, 
our  Naval  Attache  in  London,  and  the  Naval 
Attache  of  the  Chinese  Legation  there.  With 
this  explanation,  we  present  a  copy  of  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  visit,  with  Mr.  Cramp's  annota- 
tions as  noted  above. 

THROUGH   NEW   SMITH'S    SHOP   TO 

ELSWICK  SHIPYARD. 

Sir  W.  G.  Armstrong,  Whitworth  &  Co.,  Limited,  have  now 
under  construction  the  following  vessels  of  war : 

Tons.      gPeed  in 
Knots. 

One  armored-clad  battleship 14,800 

One  armored-clad  battleship 12,200 

Two  first-class  armored  cruisers,. 

each  of 9,600 

One  first-class  armored  cruiser 8,500 

Two  fast  protected  cruisers 4,500 

Two  fast  protected  cruisers 4,300 

One  fast  protected  cruiser 4,250 

Two  armor-clads 3,800 

Three  fast  protected  cruisers,  each 

of. 3,450 

One  third-class  cruiser 2,800 

One  training  ship 2,500 

One  torpedo-boat  destroyer 300 

Two  first-class  armored  cruisers, 

contracted  for 9,750 

Besides  mercantile  vessels  at  their  shipyard  at  Walker. 

By  the  end  of  the  year  1897,  or  rather  during 
this  year,  besides  the  ships  enumerated  above 

239 


18 
18 

(Japan.  ) 
(Japan.) 

20 
20 

(Japan.  ) 
Chili. 

24 

China. 

22} 
21 

/  (Japan.) 
I  Portugal. 
Chili. 

17 

Norway. 

20 

Brazil. 

18 

England. 

14 

30 

20         (Japan.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

for  Japan  there  were  in  course  of  construction 
elsewhere : 

One  battleship  ("Fuji"),  in  commission. 

One  battleship,  14,800  tons,  building  at 
Thames  Iron  Works. 

One  battleship,  14,800  tons,  building  at 
Thompson's. 

One  battleship,  10,000  tons,  under  considera- 
tion, the  Armstrong  Works  (contract  not 
signed) . 

One  armored  cruiser,  9600  tons,  ordered  at 
Vulcan  Works. 

One  armored  cruiser,  9600  tons,  ordered  at 
St.  Nazaire. 

Four  torpedo-boat  destroyers  of  30  knots, 
similar  to  British  destroyers  of  30  knots,  build 
ing  at  Yarrow. 

Four  torpedo-boat  destroyers  of  30  knots, 
similar  to  British  destroyers  of  30  knots,  build- 
ing at  Thornycroft. 

One  torpedo-boat  destroyer  of  30  knots  (?), 
similar  to  British  destroyers  of  30  knots,  build- 
ing at  Schichau. 

Eight  torpedo  boats  of  90  tons,  Schichau. 

Four  torpedo  boats  of  90  tons,  Normand. 

The  Japanese  battleships  are  named  "Ya- 
shima, "  "  Hatzure, "  "  Mikasa, "  "  Asahi, ' '  and 
"Shikisima." 

The  first-class  armored  cruisers  with  seven- 
240 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

inch  side  armor  at  Armstrong's  were  the 
"Asama,"  "Idzumo,"  "Iwate,"  and  "Ta- 
kima;"  at  St.  Nazaire,  France,  "Azuma;" 
and  at  the  Vulcan  Iron  Works,  Stettin,  Ger- 
many, the  "Yakumo."  Five  battleships,  6 
armored  cruisers,  and  21  torpedo  boats  un- 
der construction  in  1897,  in  addition  to  the 
ships  in  their  own  yards. 

Soon  after  his  return  to  America,  Mr. 
Cramp  decided  that  the  results  of  his  visits 
to  the  Armstrong  Works  should  be  given  to 
the  public,  as  there  were  no  obligations  of 
secrecy  imposed  on  him,  and  particularly  as 
he  thought  that  the  United  States  was,  or 
should  be,  interested  in  the  matter;  besides, 
he  desired  to  extend  the  field  of  the  opera- 
tions of  their  ship-building  works  abroad  and 
secure  a  small  portion  of  the  construction  of 
warships  which  England,  France,  and  Ger- 
many had  monopolized,  and  for  that  purpose 
he  prepared  a  paper,  which  was  printed  in  the 
November  number  of  the  North  American  Re- 
view for  1897.  This  paper  added  a  consider- 
able scope  of  discussion  applying  directly  to 
the  relative  naval  activity  of  Russia  and 
Japan,  and  drawing,  or  rather  pointedly 
leaving  for  inference,  the  conclusion  that 
Russia  was  not  keeping  pace  with  the  de- 
16  241 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

velopment  of  her  already  great  and  rapidly 
growing  rival  in  the  Oriental  Pacific. 
This  paper  was  as  follows : 

"THE    COMING   SEA  POWER." 

"  Most  well-informed  people  have  a  pretty  clear  general 
idea  that  the  present  is  an  era  of  unexampled  naval 
activity  throughout  the  civilized  world;  that  great  fleets 
are  building  everywhere;  that  the  ships  composing  them 
are  of  new  types,  representing  the  highest  development  of 
naval  architecture  and  the  most  exquisite  refinement  of 
the  art  of  naval  armament.  Doubtless,  a  much  smaller 
number  of  persons  are  aware  that  a  new  factor  of  im- 
posing proportions  has  come  into  the  general  situation; 
that  the  newest  member  of  the  family  of  civilization  is 
with  rapid  strides  reaching  a  status  of  actual  and  po- 
tential sea  power  with  which  the  older  nations  must  hence- 
forth reckon  most  seriously. 

"It  is,  however,  questionable  whether  any  one  not  in- 
timately conversant  with  the  current  history  of  modern 
ship-building,  or  not  qualified  to  estimate  properly  the  rela- 
tive values  of  actual  armaments,  can  adequately  conceive 
the  vast  significance  of  the  prodigious  efforts  which  this 
youngest  of  civilized  nations  was  then,  and  still  is,  suc- 
cessfully putting  forth  toward  the  quick  and  sure  attain- 
ment of  commanding  power  on  the  sea. 

"  In  order  to  estimate  accurately  the  significance  of  the 
current  naval  activity  of  Japan,  it  is  requisite  to  trace 
briefly  her  prior  development  as  a  maritime  power. 

"  The  foundation  of  the  Japanese  navy  was  laid  by 
the  purchase  of  the  Confederate  ram  '  Stonewall,'  built 
in  France  in  1864,  surrendered  to  the  United  States  in 
1865,  and  shortly  afterward  sold  or  given  to  Japan.  This 
ship  was  soon  followed  by  another  of  somewhat  similar 

242 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

type,  built  at  the  Thames  Iron  Works  in  1864~65,  now 
borne  on  the  Japanese  navy  list  as  the  '  Eiojo,'  and  used 
as  a  gunnery  and  training  ship. 

"  From  that  time  to  the  period  of  the  Chinese  War  the 
naval  growth  of  Japan  was  steady,  and,  considering  her 
very  recent  adoption  of  Western  methods,  rapid. 

"  At  the  beginning  of  that  war,  Japan,  though  pos- 
sessing a  very  respectable  force  of  cruisers  and  gunboats, 
mostly  of  modern  types  and  advanced  design,  had  no 
armored  ships  worthy  of  the  name.  The  old  '  Stonewall' 
had  been  broken  up,  the  '  Fu-So,'  the  '  Riojo,'  the  '  Heiyei,' 
and  the  '  Kon-Go,'  built  from  1865  to  1877,  were  obsolete, 
and  the  '  Chiyoda,'  the  only  one  of  modern  design  and 
armament,  was  a  small  armored  cruiser  of  2450  tons,  with 
a  4i-inch  belt,  and  no  guns  larger  than  4.7-inch  caliber. 

"  The  unarmored  fleet,  however,  on  which  she  had  to 
rely,  was  for  its  total  displacement  equal  to  any  in  the 
world.  It  embraced  three  of  the  'Hoshidate'  class,  4277 
tons  and  5400  horse-power;  two  of  the  l  Naniwa'  class,  3650 
tons  and  7000  horse-power,  which  had  been  considered 
by  our  Navy  Department  worth  copying  in  the  '  Charles- 
ton ;'  the  '  Yoshino,'  4150  tons  and  15,000  horse-power,  and 
about  fifteen  serviceable  gun-vessels  from  615  to  1700 
tons.  All  of  the  cruisers  had  been  built  in  Europe,  but 
most  of  the  gun-vessels  were  of  Japanese  build,  and  repre- 
sented the  first  efforts  of  the  Japanese  people  in  modern 
naval  construction. 

"Among  the  results  of  the  war  was  the  addition  of 
several  Chinese  vessels  to  the  Japanese  navy,  including  the 
battleship  '  Chen  Yuen,'  of  7400  tons  and  6200  horse- 
power, and  the  '  Ping  Yuen,'  armored  coast  defence  ship, 
which  had  been  captured  by  the  unarmored  cruisers  of  the 
Mikado. 

"At  the  end  of  the  war  Japan  had  forty-three  sea- 
243 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

going  vessels,  displacing  in  the  aggregate  79,000  tons, 
of  which  seven  serviceable  ships,  with  total  displacement 
of  15,000  tons,  were  prizes. 

"  The  navy  of  Japan  in  commission  at  that  time  (1897) 
embraced  forty-eight  sea-going  ships,  of  111,000  tons  dis- 
placement, and  twenty-six  torpedo  boats.  The  five  sea- 
going vessels,  of  32,000  tons  total  displacement,  which  had 
been  added  since  the  war,  represented  the  most  advanced 
types  of  modern  naval  architecture,  and  included  two 
first-class  battleships  of  12,800  tons  each,  the  '  Fuji'  and 
1  Yashima.' 

"  The  ship-building  programme  then  in  progress  of 
actual  construction  was  calculated  to  produce  by  the  year 
1903  a  total  effective  force  of  sixty-seven  sea-going  ships, 
twelve  torpedo-catchers,  and  seventy-five  torpedo  boats, 
with  an  aggregate  displacement  of  more  than  200,000  tons. 

"  To  the  navy  in  commission  or  available  for  instant 
service,  already  described,  Japan  now  adds,  in  plain  sight 
under  actual  construction  in  various  stages  of  forward- 
ness, a  new  fleet  vastly  superior  to  it  in  power  and  effi- 
ciency. 

"Here  I  desire  to  say  that  the  word  'progress,'  in  its 
conventional  sense,  does  not  adequately  indicate  the  naval 
activity  of  Japan.  The  word  implies  continuity,  by  more 
or  less  even  pace,  in  one  of  two  directions,  or  in  both; 
one  direction  is  an  increase  in  tonnage,  with  but  little  or 
no  improvement  in  efficiency;  and  the  other  is  a  marked 
advance  of  new  ships  in  all  the  elements  of  offence,  de- 
fence, staying  power,  and  economy. 

u  The  first  condition  of  progress  is  represented  by  the 
present  activity  of  most  nations  who  are  sailing  along 
evenly  and  with  self -approval  in  fancied  superiority.  The 
second  condition  is  represented  by  Japan,  who  suddenly 

244 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

appears  as  a  cyclone  in  a  smooth  sea  of  commonplace 
progress. 

"  Japan  is  not  only  building  more  ships  than  any  other 
power  except  England,  but  she  is  building  better  ships  in 
English  shipyards  than  England  herself  is  constructing 
for  her  own  navy.  While  other  nations  proceed  by  steps, 
Japan  proceeds  by  leaps  and  bounds.  What  other  nations 
are  doing  may  be  described  as  progress,  but  what  Japan 
is  doing  must  be  termed  a  phenomenon.  She  is  building: 

"(1)  Three  14,800-ton  battleships,  which  are  well  ad- 
vanced at  the  Armstrong  Works,  Thompson's,  and  Thames 
Iron  Works,  respectively. 

"(2)  One  battleship  of  about  10,000  tons,  commencing 
at  the  Armstrong  Works. 

"(3)  Four  first-class  armored  cruisers  of  9750  tons  dis- 
placement and  twenty  knots  speed  at  the  Armstrong 
Works;  one  at  the  Vulcan  Works,  Stettin,  Germany, 
and  one  in  France. 

"(4)  Two  5000- ton  protected  cruisers  of  about  twenty- 
three  knots  speed;  one  at  San  Francisco  and  one  at 
Philadelphia, 

"(5)  One  protected  cruiser  of  4300  tons  and  about 
twenty-three  knots  speed,  at  the  Armstrong  Works. 

"(6)  Four  thirty-knot  torpedo-boat  destroyers  at  Yar- 
row's. 

"(7)  Four  more  of  similar  type  at  Thompson's. 

"(8)  Eight  90-ton  torpedo  boats  at  the  Schichau  Works, 
Elbing,  Germany. 

"(9)  Four  more  of  similar  type  at  the  Normand  Works, 
France. 

"(10)  Three  3000-ton  protected  cruisers  of  twenty 
knots,  three  torpedo  gunboats  and  a  despatch  vessel,  at 
the  Imperial  Dock-yard,  Yokosuka,  Japan. 

"(11)  The  programme  for  the  current  year  embraces 
245 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

a  fifth  armored  cruiser  of  the  type  previously  described 
(9600  tons  and  twenty  knots),  to  be  built  also  at  Yoko- 
suka. 

"  This  is  Japan's  naval  increase  actually  in  sight.  Ex- 
cepting the  ships  building  at  Yokosuka,  the  whole  pro- 
gramme has  come  under  my  personal  observation. 

"  Comparison  with  the  current  progress  of  other  powers 
discloses  the  fact  that  Japan  is  second  only  to  England 
in  naval  activity,  being  ahead  of  France,  much  in  ad- 
vance of  Germany,  and  vastly  in  the  lead  of  Russia  and 
the  United  States.  It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  new  Japanese  fleet  comprises  throughout  the  very 
latest  and  highest  types  of  naval  architecture  in  every 
respect  of  force,  economy,  and  efficiency. 

"  The  spectacle  of  Japan  surpassing  France  and  closely 
following  England  herself  in  naval  activity  is  startling. 
Considering  the  shortness  of  the  time  which  has  elapsed 
since  Japan  entered  the  family  of  nations  or  aspired  to 
any  rank  whatever  as  a  power,  it  is  little  short  of  miracu- 
lous. Yet  it  is  a  fact,  and  to  my  mind  it  is  the  most 
significant  single  fact  of  our  time.  Nations  do  not  display 
such  energy  or  undertake  such  expenditure  without  a 
purpose. 

"  It  can  hardly  be  maintained  that  Japan  aims  her  vast 
preparations  at  the  United  States;  at  least,  not  primarily. 
The  pending  Hawaiian  affair  has  given  rise  to  some 
irritation,  but  its  importance  has  been  systematically  ex- 
aggerated by  the  English  press.  It  cannot,  in  any  event, 
go  beyond  the  stage  of  diplomatic  exchanges.  Japan  will, 
doubtless,  receive  from  the  United  States  sufficient 
assurance  that  the  rights  of  her  subjects  in  Hawaii  will 
be  protected  in  case  of  annexation,  and  thus  far  she  has 
asked  no  more  than  that.  She  is  certainly  entitled  to  no 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

"  The  object  of  the  English  in  encouraging  Japan  to 
make  a  bold  front  against  the  United  States  was  and  is, 
like  all  their  objects,  purely  commercial.  They  hoped  to 
stir  up  in  the  Japanese  mind  an  ill-feeling  that  would 
prevent  the  award  of  any  more  contracts  to  American 
shipyards,  and  even  this  characteristic  stratagem  is  not 
likely  to  have  more  than  a  temporary  effect.  Thus  I  think 
it  may  be  assumed  that  Japan's  immense  naval  prepara- 
tion is  not  made  with  the  United  States  in  hostile  viewj 
certainly  not  mainly. 

"  Assuming  these  conditions  to  be  beyond  dispute,  and 
considering  that  the  completion  of  the  Trans-Siberian  rail- 
way will  at  once  make  Russia  a  great  Pacific  power, 
politically  and  commercially,  her  naval  situation  in  those 
seas  must  become  a  matter  of  prime  importance ;  perhaps 
not  of  equal  importance  with  that  of  the  United  States 
now,  but  at  once  sufficient  to  challenge  the  best  efforts 
of  her  statesmen. 

"  Having  all  these  facts  in  view,  and  being  in  a  position 
to  judge  with  some  accuracy  of  the  significance  and  value 
of  preparations  which  came  under  my  own  observation 
during  a  recent  tour  of  Europe  in  my  professional  ca- 
pacity, I  could  not  help  remarking  the  vast  difference 
between  the  naval  activity  of  Japan  and  that  of  the  other 
two  first-rate  pacific  powers,  Russia  and  the  United  States. 
The  existing  situation  in  Russia  and  the  United  States, 
relatively  speaking,  can  hardly  be  called  more  than  the 
merest  perfunctory  progress,  whereas  the  activity  of 
Japan  is  really  marvellous.  If  she  were  simply  meditating 
another  attack  on  China  alone  or  unsupported,  no  such 
fleet  as  Japan  is  now  building  would  be  needed ;  certainly 
not  the  enormous  battleships  and  the  great  armored 
cruisers.  It  must  therefore  be  assumed  that  Japan's  pur- 
pose is  the  general  one  of  predominant  sea  power  in  the 
Orient. 

247 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

"  Japan  may,  and  probably  does,  meditate  a  renewal  of 
her  efforts  to  establish  a  footing  on  the  Asiatic  mainland. 
Possibly,  she  may  have  in  view  the  ultimate  acquisition  of 
the  Philippine  Islands!  (This  was  written  the  year  be- 
fore the  Spanish  War.)  But,  whatever  may  be  her  terri- 
torial ambitions  for  the  future,  it  is  as  plain  as  an  open 
book  that  she  intends,  before  she  moves  again,  to  place 
herself  in  a  position  to  disregard  and  defy  any  external 
interference.  This  may  be  the  true  meaning  of  Japan's 
extreme  activity  in  naval  preparation  at  this  time. 

"  I  may  say  without  violation  of  confidence  that  a 
Japanese  gentleman  of  distinction,  a  civilian,  not  long 
ago  remarked  in  conversation  on  this  subject  that  '  while 
Japan  was  forced  by  circumstances  to  yield  much  at  Shi- 
monoseki  that  she  had  fairly  conquered,  she  still  secured 
indemnity  enough  to  build  a  navy  that  would  enable  her 
to  do  better  next  time!' 

"  In  view  of  all  these  facts,  the  question  at  once  arises : 
Are  Russia  and  the  United  States  prepared  or  are  they 
preparing  to  meet  such  conditions,  and  to  maintain  their 
proper  naval  status  as  Pacific  powers?  My  answer  to 
that  question,  based  on  observations  of  Japan's  naval 
strength  already  in  sight  and  on  what  I  know  of  her  in- 
tended programme  for  further  increase  in  the  immediate 
future,  as  compared  with  the  relative  conditions  of  Russia 
and  this  country,  would  be  in  the  negative. 

"  Just  now  Russia  is  trying  the  experiment  of  reliance 
on  her  own  Imperial  dock-yards,  including  two  semi- 
private  shipyards  under  government  control;  while  the 
United  States  has  halted  completely.  The  Russian  dock- 
yards are  efficient,  as  far  as  they  go,  and  turn  out  good 
work,  judging  from  such  specimens  as  I  have  seen.  But 
their  capacity  is  not  adequate  to  the  task  that  is  presented 
by  the  situation  which  I  have  delineated.  No  other  nation 
relies  wholly  on  its  own  public  dock-yards  for  new  naval 

248 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

constructions.  England,  with  public  dock-yards  almost 
equal  in  capacity  to  those  of  the  rest  of  the  world  com- 
bined, builds  over  65  per  cent,  of  her  displacement  and  97 
per  cent,  of  her  horse-power  by  contract  with  private 
shipyards  and  machine-shops.  France,  with  very  great 
dock-yard  facilities,  builds  a  large  proportion  of  her  hulls 
and  machinery  by  contract.  The  same  is  true  of  Germany, 
Italy,  and  the  United  States.  But  Russia  has  no  great 
private  ship-building  facilities,  and  there  are  no  visible 
signs  of  the  immediate  development  of  resources  of  that 
description. 

"  Japan,  on  the  contrary,  though  she  has  some  facili- 
ties of  her  own,  is  drawing  upon  the  very  best  resources 
elsewhere  to  be  found;  she  is  drawing  on  the  ship-build- 
ing power  at  once  of  England,  France,  Germany,  and  the 
United  States.  Not  only  that,  but  more  than  that;  the 
vessels  Japan  is  building  in  the  shipyards  of  England, 
France,  and  Germany  are  superior  to  any  vessels  those 
nations  are  building  for  themselves,  class  for  class. 

"  Hence,  viewing  the  situation  from  any  point  at  will, 
the  conclusion  of  any  one  qualified  to  judge  must  be  that, 
in  the  race  for  naval  supremacy  in  the  Pacific,  Japan  is 
gaining,  while  Russia  and  the  United  States  are  losing 
ground. 

"  It  requires  little  prescience  to  discern  that  the  issue 
which  is  to  settle  that  question  of  supremacy  as  between 
the  powers  may  not  be  long  deferred. 

"  Though  Japan's  naval  activity  is  primarily  signifi- 
cant of  a  purpose  to  secure  general  predominance  in  Ori- 
ental seas,  and  though,  as  I  have  suggested,  there  is  no 
immediate  reason  for,  or  prospect  of,  trouble  between 
Japan  and  the  United  States  involving  naval  armaments; 
yet,  in  the  broad  general  sense  of  dignity  on  the  sea,  our 
country  can  by  no  means  safely  ignore  or  be  inattentive 

249 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

to  the  progress  of  our  Oriental  neighbor  toward  the  rank 
of  a  first-class  sea  power  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  com- 
pletion of  her  fleet  now  building  will,  inside  of  three 
years,  give  Japan  that  rank,  and  the  future  programme 
already  laid  out  will  accentuate  it.  The  superior  quality 
of  Japan's  new  navy  is  even  more  significant  than  its 
enormous  quantity.  She  has  no  useless  ships,  none  obso- 
lete; all  are  up  to  date. 

"Meantime,  the  attitude  of  the  United  States  seems 
quite  as  supine  as  that  of  Russia.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
go  into  minute  detail  on  this  point.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that,  taking  Russia,  Japan,  and  the  United  States  as  the 
three  maritime  powers  most  directly  concerned  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  whose  interests  are  most  immediately 
affected  by  its  command,  Japan  at  her  present  rate  of 
naval  progress,  viewed  with  relation  to  the  lack  of  prog- 
ress of  the  other  two,  must  in  three  years  be  able  to 
dominate  the  Pacific  against  either,  and  in  less  than  ten 
years,  against  both. 

"  I  have  heard  the  question  raised  as  to  the  character 
and  quality  of  the  Japanese  personnel;  I  have  heard  the 
suggestion  that,  magnificent  as  their  material  may  be, 
their  officers  and  men  are  not  up  to  the  European  or 
American  standard.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  discuss 
this  phase  of  the  matter.  But  it  is  worth  while  to  observe 
that,  if  the  Japanese  officers  with  whom  we  are  in  daily 
contact  as  inspectors  of  work  we  are  doing  for  their 
government  are  average  samples,  they  have  no  odds  to 
ask  of  the  officers  of  any  other  navy  whatsoever  as  to 
professional  ability,  practical  application,  and  capacity  to 
profit  by  experience.  And  it  should  also  be  borne  in  mind 
that  they  have  had  more  and  later  experience  in  actual 
warfare  than  the  officers  of  any  other  navy,  or  of  all  other 
navies.  While  all  other  navies  have  been  wrestling  with 

250 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

the  theoretical  problems  of  war  colleges,  or  encountering 
the  hypothetical  conditions  of  squadron  evolutions,  fleet 
manoauvres,  and  sham  battles,  the  Japanese  have  been  sink- 
ing or  taking  the  ships,  bombarding  the  towns,  and  forcing 
the  harbors  of  their  enemy.  I  do  not  know  how  others 
may  view  this  sort  of  disparity  in  experience,  but  in  my 
opinion  it  is  the  most  portentous  fact  in  the  whole  situa- 
tion, and  because  of  it  no  navy  that  has  not  done  any 
fighting  at  all  has  the  slightest  license  to  question  in  any 
respect  the  quality  of  the  personnel  of  the  Japanese  navy 
that  has  done  a  good  deal  of  extremely  successful  fighting. 
"  On  the  whole,  the  attitude  of  Japan  among  the  powers 
is  in  the  last  degree  admirable.  Her  aspirations  are  ex- 
altedly  patriotic,  and  her  movements  to  realize  them  are 
planned  with  a  consummate  wisdom,  and  executed  with  a 
systematic  skill,  which  nations  far  older  in  the  arts  of 
Western  civilization  would  do  well  to  emulate." 

In  this  paper,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  Mr. 
Cramp  hewed  to  the  line.  He  did  not  flatter 
the  Russians  nor  did  he  omit  to  advise  them 
of  the  full  extent  and  unquestionable  conse- 
quences of  their  procrastination  and  supine- 
ness.  When  the  paper  was  prepared  and  had 
been  finally  revised,  Mr.  Cramp  still  hesitated 
about  publishing  it  in  that  form.  "The  Rus- 
sians, ' '  he  said, ' '  are  extremely  sensitive ;  they 
know  their  weakness,  or  the  best  minds  among 
them  know  it  quite  as  well  as  I  have  pointed 
it  out  in  this  paper.  Of  course,  I  intend  it  as 
an  appeal  to  their  patriotism  and  to  their  sense 
of  their  country 's  needs ;  but  I  am  afraid  that 

251 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

it  will  hurt  the  sensibilities  of  some  of  them. ' ' 
However,  after  further  consideration,  Mr. 
Cramp  determined  to  print  the  paper  as  it 
stood,  and  it  was  done.  Probably  no  article 
appearing  in  an  American  magazine  in  many 
years,  if  ever,  received  as  widespread  or  as 
earnest  attention  in  Europe  as  did  Mr. 
Cramp's  paper  on  "The  Coming  Sea  Power." 
As  soon  as  the  North  American  Review  arrived 
in  Europe,  the  paper  was  translated  and 
printed  in  Russian  and  German  and  a  copious 
synopsis  of  it  in  French,  in  the  naval  periodi- 
cals of  the  respective  countries.  It  was  also 
extensively  discussed  and  criticised  in  the  Eng- 
lish press,  both  in  the  service  papers  and  in 
the  regular  daily  journals.  In  St.  Petersburg, 
besides  being  translated  and  printed  in  the 
principal  Russian  magazine  and  discussed  in 
the  newspapers,  it  was  made  the  basis  of  an 
address  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  Admirals 
in  the  Russian  navy.  Mr.  Cramp's  cautious 
apprehension,  already  referred  to,  that  it 
might  touch  the  susceptibilities  of  Russian  offi- 
cers proved  groundless ;  and  it  has  been  openly 
admitted  by  high  officials  of  the  Russian  Min- 
istry of  Marine  that  the  arguments  and  con- 
siderations so  vigorously  advanced  by  Mr. 
Cramp  had  an  effect  of  no  little  potency  in 
turning  the  scale  of  Russian  policy,  which  a 

252 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

few  months  later  found  expression  in  the  great 
naval  programme  of  1898. 

Early  in  the  following  spring  Mr.  Cramp 
received  advices  from  St.  Petersburg  that  the 
Ministry  of  Marine  would  be  glad  to  entertain 
plans  and  proposals  from  him  for  the  construc- 
tion of  at  least  two  first-class  battleships,  two 
first-class  protected  cruisers  of  the  highest 
speed,  and  thirty  torpedo  boats,  under  the  new 
programme  which  had  then,  February,  1898, 
been  finally  authorized  by  the  Ministry  and 
approved  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas  II. 

Upon  receipt  of  this  information  or  sugges- 
tion, Mr.  Cramp  lost  no  time  in  preparing  for 
the  voyage.  Although  the  time  of  year,  early 
in  March,  was  the  most  inclement  season  for 
a  visit  to  the  great  northern  capital,  he  cheer- 
fully accepted  the  situation.  So  far  as  the 
general  scheme  and  outline  plans  were  con- 
cerned, he  had  substantially  worked  them  out 
in  anticipation,  and  not  much  delay  was  caused 
on  that  account.  Early  in  March,  1898,  Mr. 
Cramp  sailed  on  the  American  Line  steamship 
"St.  Paul,"  bound  for  St.  Petersburg  by  the 
way  of  Southampton.  Upon  his  arrival  at  the 
Russian  capital,  he  was  immediately  turned 
over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  what  is  known  as 
the  Technical  Board.  This  in  Russian  naval 
administration  is  a  Board  composed  of  officers 

253 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

representing  all  the  branches  of  the  service, — 
Line,  Construction,  Engineering  and  Ord- 
nance, or  the  Artillery  Branch,  as  they  call  it. 
The  membership  of  this  Board  is  considerable 
in  number.  For  several  weeks  they  subjected 
Mr.  Cramp  to  a  species  of  inquisition  which 
might  well  have  appalled  a  man  of  less  re- 
sources, less  determination,  or  less  confidence 
in  his  own  ultimate  mastery  of  the  situation. 
It  is  not  worth  while,  even  did  our  limits  of 
space  admit,  to  go  into  detail  of  Mr.  Cramp's 
discussion  of  his  proposed  designs  and  plans 
with  the  members  of  the  Technical  Board. 
Suffice  to  say,  that  after  some  weeks  of  con- 
sideration, taking  the  widest  possible  range,  a 
general  agreement  was  reached,  leaving  but 
few  questions  open  for  subsequent  determina- 
tion, none  of  which  were  of  vital  importance. 
The  sequel  of  the  whole  transaction  was  that 
on  the  23d  of  April,  1898,  contracts  were  signed 
by  Mr.  Cramp  on  behalf  of  the  Company,  and 
by  Vice- Admiral  V.  Verhovskoy,  Chief  of  the 
Department  of  Construction  and  Supply,  on 
behalf  of  the  Emperor,  for  the  construction  of 
two  vessels,  one  first-class  battleship,  now 
known  as  the  "  Eetvizan,"  and  one  first-class 
protected  cruiser  of  the  highest  practicable 
speed,  known  as  the  "Variag." 
In  his  operations  at  St.  Petersburg  leading 
254 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

up  to  these  important  contracts,  which  aggre- 
gated nearly  seven  millions  of  dollars,  in- 
cluding extra  work  ordered  during  construc- 
tion, Mr.  Cramp  encountered  powerful  and 
persistent  opposition  from  three  widely  di- 
verse sources.  First,  there  was  an  element 
strongly  intrenched  in  the  Ministry  of  Marine, 
who  opposed  the  award  of  contracts  to  foreign 
builders  other  than  the  French.  This  element 
of  opposition  was  powerfully  represented  on 
the  Technical  Board,  and  its  influences  were 
shown  particularly  in  the  Ordnance  installa- 
tion and  in  the  Engineering  section,  who 
wanted  everything  done  in  Russia.  It  proved 
factious  and  troublesome,  though  not  other- 
wise formidable,  because  the  decision  to  have 
some  of  the  ships  in  the  programme  of  1898 
built  abroad  had  already  been  reached  in 
higher  quarters.  In  fact,  though  not  definitely 
so  announced  by  the  Russian  government,  it 
was  known  by  the  middle  of  March,  1898,  at 
least  by  those  intending  to  bid,  that  the  Min- 
istry of  Marine  had  decided  to  award  contracts 
for  the  construction  of  two  first-class  battle- 
ships, one  armored  cruiser,  and  three  first- 
class  protected  cruisers  of  the  highest  speed  in 
foreign  shipyards,  and  a  large  number  of  tor- 
pedo boats. 

The  French  and  German  shipyards  were 
255 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

represented  not  only  by  their  own  agents  and 
experts,  but  they  were  backed,  and  their  claims 
to  consideration  urged,  with  all  the  power  and 
influence  their  respective  Embassies  and  bank- 
ing houses  could  command  at  the  Court  of  St. 
Petersburg. 

However,  this  situation  was  not  at  all  un- 
foreseen or  unexpected  by  Mr.  Cramp.  To 
encounter  opposition  from  the  agents  of  the- 
foreign  banking  houses  and  diplomats  was  a 
normal  condition  of  this  kind  of  business. 
Fortunately  for  Mr.  Cramp,  or,  rather,  for- 
tunately for  American  industrial  interests  at 
large,  we  also  had  an  ambassador  at  St. 
Petersburg  in  1898.  He  was  not  of  the  com- 
mon run  of  American  diplomatic  representa- 
tives "near"  foreign  Courts.  He  was  differ- 
ent. Almost  from  the  foundation  of  our 
government,  a  rule — amounting  to  unwritten 
law — had  prevailed  which  forbade  American 
diplomatic  representatives  abroad  to  do  or  say 
anything  in  aid  or  furtherance  of  commercial 
or  industrial  enterprises  of  American  citizens 
in  the  country  to  which  they  were  accredited. 

Object  lessons  were  before  them.  During 
Polk's  Administration,  James  Buchanan,  then 
Secretary  of  State,  had  removed,  or  rather 
transferred  to  another  post,  a  United  States 
Minister  to  one  of  the  South  American  Re- 

256 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

publics  on  the  Pacific  slope.  This  Minister 
had  committed  the,  in  United  States  "  diplo- 
macy," unpardonable  offence  of  indorsing  the 
drafts  of  certain  whale-ship  captains  upon 
their  owners  in  New  Bedford  and  Nantucket. 
The  ships  of  these  captains  were  in  distress, 
having  been  dismasted  in  tempestuous  passages 
around  Cape  Horn,  and  they  had  made  their 
voyage  to  Valparaiso  under  jury-masts.  Ar- 
rived there,  they  needed  money  to  repair  and 
refit  their  battered  and  storm-beaten  ships. 
Our  Minister  to  Chile  used  his  good  offices  to 
help  them  get  their  drafts  cashed  so  they  could 
repair  their  vessels  and  pursue  their  voyages. 
This,  from  the  view-point  of  primitive  United 
States  "diplomacy,"  was  of  course  a  crime, 
and  the  Minister  was  made  to  suffer  for  it! 
Ultimately  this  unwritten  law  or  tacit  doctrine 
found  expression  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  in 
a  debate  on  the  Consular  and  Diplomatic  Ap- 
propriation, from  the  lips  of  Thomas  F. 
Bayard : 

"  The  purity  and  dignity  of  our  foreign  representa- 
tion," he  said,  "  must  be  preserved !  The  law  now  recog- 
nized, though  unwritten,  should  be  made  statutory !  If  an 
American  Minister  abroad  should  use  any  of  the  influence 
or  employ  any  of  the  prestige  or  credit  which  he  may  de- 
rive from  his  status  as  a  representative  of  this  country 
to  aid  or  further  or  promote  any  scheme  or  project  of 

257  17 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

American  citizens  in  that  country,  having  private  gain  in 
view,  he  should  be  held  answerable  for  official  misde- 
meanor!" 

Buchanan  and  Bayard  have  already  found 
their  proper  levels  in  American  history,  and 
need  not  be  discussed  here,  even  if  their  mem- 
ories were  worth  discussion.  But  the  theory 
they  applied  to  our  diplomatic  representa- 
tion was  for  many  years  the  rule.  The  result 
was  that  our  " diplomatic  service"  (so-called) 
down  to,  we  may  say,  the  end  of  Cleveland's 
last  Administration,  had  become  little  else  than 
a  hospital  for  political  cripples,  or  a  sani- 
tarium for  over-worked  old  lawyers  and  ner- 
vously prostrated  college  professors.  It  was 
the  laughing-stock  of  foreigners  and  the  object 
of  cynical,  albeit  good-natured,  contempt  on 
the  part  of  our  own  people.  It  had  become  a 
symposium  of  urbane  uselessness  and  solemn 
stupidity. 

All  this  was  changed  in  our  representation 
at  St.  Petersburg  in  1898.  Our  Ambassador 
there  was  the  Hon.  Ethan  Allen  Hitchcock,  of 
Missouri.  He  was  neither  a  political  cripple, 
nor  an  overworked  old  lawyer,  nor  a  college 
president  needing  a  gilt-edged  vacation. 

He  was  a  great  and  successful  manufacturer, 
a  man  of  broad  and  keen  business  instincts, 
and  he  thought  that  any  scheme  calculated  to 

258 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

disburse  about  seven  million  dollars  among 
the  workingmen  and  steel  mills  of  the  United 
States  was  well  worthy  the  earnest  attention 
and  the  best  officers  of  the  most  dignified  Am- 
bassador. Imbued  with  such  ideas,  Mr.  Hitch- 
cock helped  Mr.  Cramp  all  he  could.  He  may 
not  have  been  as  noisy  about  it  as  the  German 
Ambassador  or  as  strenuously  in  evidence  as 
the  French  Ambassador,  but  he  was  none  the 
less  active  or  effective  in  his  efforts  to  subserve 
and  promote  the  interests  of  his  country  and 
her  citizens.  The  maw- worm  doctrine  of 
Buchanan  and  the  raven-like  croaking  of  Bay- 
ard were  lost  upon  such  a  man.  Taking  the 
situation  altogether,  it  is  safe  to  say,  so  far 
as  diplomatic  representation  was  concerned, 
the  commercial  and  industrial  interests  of  the 
United  States  and  of  American  citizens  in  the 
Eussian  Empire  were  quite  as  well  guarded  in 
1898  as  were  those  of  France  and  Germany. 

The  third  element  of  opposition  which  Mr. 
Cramp  had  to  encounter  and  overcome  was  of 
a  purely  technical  or  mechanical  character. 
His  plans  involved  installation  of  water-tube 
boilers  of  the  Niclausse  type.  But  up  to  that 
moment,  ever  since  the  adoption  of  the  water- 
tube  system  by  the  Eussian  navy,  the  Belle- 
ville type  of  boiler  had  held  undisputed  sway 

there.    The  enormous  wealth  of  the  Belleville 

259 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

people,  their  straightway,  open-handed  mode 
of  doing  business  with  naval  officials,  not  only 
in  Russia  but  in  England  as  well,  and  their 
aptness  in  placing  valuable  things  where  they 
would  do  the  most  good,  were  all  notorious. 
They  had  for  some  time  admitted  that  the 
Niclausse  system  was  their  most  formidable 
rival,  and  naturally  they  were  ready  to  exhaust 
their  resources  to  prevent  its  introduction  into 
the  Russian  navy,  where  their  monopoly,  up 
to  that  time,  had  been  perfect  and  invulner- 
able. This  discussion  was,  of  course,  carried 
on  wholly  between  Mr.  Cramp  and  the  Russian 
technical  authorities.  It  was  a  subject  that 
could  not  be  touched  by  diplomacy  or  by  per- 
sonal influence;  a  contest  to  be  fought  out 
wholly  on  the  mechanical  merits  of  the  respec- 
tive systems  and  decided  entirely  by  skilled 
judgment.  In  this  kind  of  contest  Mr.  Cramp 
was  at  home,  and  he  won.  His  staple  argu- 
ment was  that  for  any  naval  power  to  sur- 
render itself  to  a  single  type  of  proprietary 
boiler,  thereby  creating  a  monopoly  against 
itself,  could  not  be  else  than  unwise ;  that  the 
era  of  water-tube  boilers  was  still  in  the  ex- 
perimental stage,  that  perfection  was  yet  to 
be  developed,  and  was  doubtless  a  long  way 
off.  Exhaustive  trials  already  made  had  de- 
monstrated a  wide  range  of  efficiency  and  con- 

260 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

sequent  merit  in  the  Niclausse  system,  and 
while  it  was  no  part  of  his  contention  to  decry 
or  depreciate  the  rival  type,  comparative  per- 
formances of  official  record  beyond  dispute 
argued  that  sound  marine  engineering  policy 
would  forbid  the  exclusion  of  the  Niclausse 
system.  By  the  weight  of  these  arguments  Mr. 
Cramp  carried  all  his  points.  The  ultimate 
result  of  a  six  weeks'  campaign  was  the  award 
of  contracts  for  construction  of  six  vessels  in 
foreign  shipyards:  one  first-class  battleship 
and  one  armored  cruiser  to  the  Forges  et 
Chantiers,  of  France;  one  first-class  battle- 
ship and  one  large  protected  cruiser  of  the 
highest  attainable  speed  to  Mr.  Cramp,  and 
two  protected  cruisers  of  type  similar  to  the 
last,named  to  Germany  yards,  the  * '  Germania" 
of  Kiel  and  the  "  Vulcan"  of  Stettin. 

Upon  these  awards,  Mr.  Cramp  came  home 
and  began  construction  at  once.  Indeed,  while 
still  in  St.  Petersburg,  he  had  placed  orders 
for  important  parts  of  the  material  required, 
and  had  contracted  for  the  necessary  armor. 
At  the  outset  some  delay  occurred,  due  to  the 
extreme  deliberation  observed  by  the  Russian 
Inspectors  in  approving  detail  plans  and  speci- 
fications, and  to  some  changes  made  in  the 
character  and  quality  of  material  for  pro- 
tective decks  after  the  contract  was  signed. 

261 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

But  notwithstanding  these  delays,  Mr.  Cramp 
completed  and  delivered  both  his  ships  long  in 
advance  of  either  the  French  or  German  build- 
ers, and  such  time  penalties  as  had  accrued  by 
reason  of  the  initial  delays  already  referred 
to  were  remitted  by  direction  of  the  Emperor 
Nicholas  II  himself. 

The  trial  conditions  imposed  upon  these 
ships  were  the  most  drastic  and  crucial  ever 
known;  they  being  required  to  develop  their 
maximum  speed  for  twelve  hours  continuously, 
as  against  four-hour  or  measured  mile  trials 
in  other  navies. 

Upon  the  completion  and  delivery  of  these 
ships,  Mr.  Cramp  had  achieved  the  distinction 
of  having  done  the  greatest  volume  and  highest 
value  of  ship-building  for  foreign  accounts 
ever  performed  in  an  American  shipyard.  On 
their  arrival  at  St.  Petersburg,  both  ships  were 
personally  inspected  by  the  Emperor,  who  was 
so  pleased  with  the  "  Variag"  that  he  ordered 
her  detailed  as  escort  to  the  Imperial  yacht  in 
a  trip  to  Cherbourg. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in  the  fall  of 
1898  our  Navy  Department  advertised  for  pro- 
posals to  construct  three  battleships,  now 
known  as  the  " Maine"  class.  The  plan  put 
forth  by  the  Department  was  a  modified  and 
slightly  enlarged  "  Alabama,"  with  a  speed 

262 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

requirement  of  seventeen  knots  as  against  six- 
teen in  the  original  type.  Mr.  Cramp  offered 
to  build  an  eighteen-knot  ship  within  the  statu- 
tory limit  prescribed  for  one  of  seventeen 
knots,  and  used  his  Russian  battleship  as  a 
basis  of  design.  His  proposition  was  accepted, 
and  the  other  bidders — Newport  News  and  the 
Union  Iron  Works,  to  each  of  whom  one  ship 
was  awarded — were  required  to  adopt  Mr. 
Cramp's  conditions  of  dimension  and  per- 
formance. In  this  manner  the  American  navy 
as  well  as  the  Russian  profited  by  Mr.  Cramp 's 
interesting  and  remarkable  ''Campaign  of 
1898." 


263 


CONCLUSION 

THE  foregoing  chapters  have  dealt  wholly 
with  Mr.  Cramp  in  what  may  be  termed  his 
public  capacity, — in  his  attitude  of  a  public 
servant  of  most  important  rank  and  most  un- 
failing usefulness.  The  fact  that  he  has  been 
such  a  public  servant,  without  official  position 
or  emolument,  stands  doubly  to  his  credit. 
Viewing  him  in  that  relation  alone,  it  may  be 
said  that  he  has  designed  and  built,  or  has 
been  responsible  for  the  designing  and  build- 
ing, more  than  three  hundred  ships  of  all  kinds, 
classes,  and  destinations  during  more  than  half 
a  century.  It  requires  more  than  a  second 
thought  to  adequately  measure  the  impress  a 
man  makes  upon  the  fortunes  and  the  desti- 
nies of  his  era  when  he  creates  over  three  hun- 
dred ships  either  for  commerce  or  for  war. 

Dismissing  for  the  moment  all  thought  of  the 
perishability  of  things  made  by  human  hands, 
the  imagination  does  not  need  a  free  vein  to 
fancy  an  imperishable  monument  in  legend, 
in  tradition,  and  in  history.  The  ships  them- 
selves run  their  course,  meet  their  fate,  and 
pass  away.  But  the  descendants  of  the  men 
who  sailed  in  them  to  the  uttermost  parts  of 

264 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES   H.  CRAMP 

the  earth,  if  merchant  vessels,  or  the  progeny 
of  the  men  who  fought  in  them  to  save  the 
country  or  to  set  a  weaker  people  free,  if  men- 
of-war,  will  forever  cherish  their  memories. 
In  such  a  way  Charles  H.  Cramp  has  linked  his 
name  with  the  era  of  his  lifetime ;  and  nothing 
has  been  attempted  in  the  foregoing  Memoir  but 
to  make,  in  assembled  form,  permanent  record 
of  the  most  important  relations  he  has  sus- 
tained to  the  destiny-shapers  of  mankind,  the 
most  arduous  of  the  tasks  he  has  undertaken, 
the  most  signal  of  the  triumphs  he  has 
achieved,  and  the  most  perplexing  of  the  diffi- 
culties and  obstacles  he  has  encountered. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  portray  the 
gentler  and  more  genial  side  of  his  nature ;  that 
could  be  found  in  a  survey  of  his  social  per- 
sonality for  its  own  sake  and  dissociated  from 
professional  striving  or  public  service.  From 
this  point  of  view  purely,  another  volume  equal 
in  extent  to  the  foregoing  could  be  written. 
But  here  the  opportunity  is  denied.  The 
boundless  hospitality,  the  unflagging  gener- 
osity, the  inevitable  good  cheer  and  helpful- 
ness to  all  who  had  in  any  way  earned  his  con- 
fidence or  invoked  his  gratitude,  must  be 
passed  over  with  simple  mention. 

Immersed  though  he  always  was  in  affairs 
of  the  most  practical  and  matter-of-fact  na- 

265 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

ture,  Mr.  Cramp  could  always  find  time  for 
the  society  of  the  clever  Bohemians  of  litera- 
ture, art,  and  the  drama.  No  other  association 
was  so  congenial  to  him.  No  other  business 
man  of  his  time  numbered  so  many  friends  and 
close  acquaintances  in  that  fraternity  as  he. 
In  him  they  always  found  quick  appreciation 
of  their  abilities  and,  when  occasion  might  re- 
quire, ready  and  cordial  responsiveness  to 
their  incidents  of  vicissitude.  During  the 
scores  of  years  through  which  he  figured  in  a 
capacity  as  public  and  in  affairs  as  momentous 
as  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  highest  official, 
constantly  engaged  in  operations  closely  af- 
fecting the  vitality  and  integrity  of  the  nation, 
incessantly  subject  to  a  scrutiny  hardly  less 
searching  than  "the  fierce  light  which  beats 
upon  a  throne,"  the  files  of  American  print  for 
a  lifetime  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  an  ill- 
natured  personal  criticism  upon  his  acts  or 
achievements  or  an  aspersion  upon  his  char- 
acter. Even  partisans  of  his  rivals,  no  matter 
what  might  be  the  bitterness  of  contention  or 
the  rancor  of  faction,  always  halted  at  personal 
animadversion  upon  him.  This  was  not  be- 
cause he  himself  was  reticent  in  criticism  or 
always  cautious  in  comment.  Having  always 
ready  and  welcome  access  to  the  columns  of 
the  most  noted  periodicals  and  the  greatest 

266 


MEMOIRS   OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

newspapers,  and  being  by  no  means  stingy  of 
rhetoric,  his  innumerable  newspaper  inter- 
views and  frequent  magazine  papers  in- 
variably "  spoke  his  mind"  with  neither  ex- 
tenuation nor  malice,  and  always  hewed  to  the 
line. 

On  one  occasion  he  submitted  a  professional 
paper  in  manuscript  to  a  friend  of  literary 
pursuits  whose  judgment  he  held  in  high 
esteem.  "In  that  paper,"  he  said,  "I  have 
done  my  best  to  avoid  all  controversial  ten- 
dency. Please  look  it  over  and  give  me  your 
view  as  to  whether  or  not  I  have  succeeded." 

It  was  a  paper  on  the  subject  of  water-tube 
boilers  involving  discussion  of  the  various 
types,  and  referring  to  the  policies  of  different 
naval  administrations  at  home  and  abroad  in 
dealing  with  them. 

"Well,"  he  inquired,  when  his  friend  re- 
turned the  paper,  "  what  do  you  think  of  it?" 

"I  understood  you  to  say,  Mr.  Cramp,  that 
you  desire  to  avoid  controversial  matter  in  this 
paper  ? ' ' 

"Yes." 

"  And  you  would  strike  out  anything  that 
might  partake  of  that  nature?" 

"  Yes." 

"Well,  in  that  case,  there  would  be  little 
left  but  the  title  of  the  paper ! ' ' 

267 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES  H.  CRAMP 

The  fact  is,  that  whenever  Mr.  Cramp  under- 
took to  write  or  dictate  for  publication  upon 
professional  topics,  he  was  almost  instinctively 
controversial,  almost  intuitively  combative. 
His  long  experience  and  his  drastic  training 
enabled  him  to  see  through  any  device  within 
his  professional  sphere  as  through  a  pane  of 
glass,  and  he  could  read  its  shortcomings  or 
its  defects  as  an  open  book.  In  such  premises, 
it  was  never  his  wont  to  be  sparing.  But  his 
criticisms  were  so  uniformly  sound,  his  com- 
ments so  logical  and  practical,  and  his  motives 
so  palpably  beyond  question,  that  he  was  sel- 
dom combated  at  all,  and  never  successfully. 

In  the  foregoing  chapters  we  have  repro- 
duced extracts  from  his  published  papers  and 
correspondence  upon  purely  professional  sub- 
jects. As  the  reader  has  perceived,  they  in- 
volve not  only  knowledge  of  everything  within 
the  immediate  sphere  of  his  own  vocation,  but 
also  a  broad  and  generous  group  of  the  prob- 
lems of  international  politics  and  diplomacy. 
Mr.  Cramp  was  not  merely  an  adept  in  the 
design  and  construction  of  ships,  he  was 
equally  versed  in  that  more  subtle  array  of 
physical  and  moral  forces  which  in  our  day 
have  come  to  be  grouped  under  the  general 
head  of  ' '  Sea  power ; ' '  and  his  conception  of 
the  ultimate  international  objects  to  be  sub- 

268 


MEMOIRS   OF   CHARLES   H.'  CRAMP 

served  and  wrought  out  by  the  ships  he  built 
was  as  clear  as  his  knowledge  of  the  details  of 
their  building. 

In  the  domain  of  general  thought,  of  history, 
and  of  ethics,  Mr.  Cramp  was  only  a  little  less 
prolific  than  in  the  literature  of  his  own  pro- 
fession. His  address  to  the  Netherlands  Society 
on  the  Anglo-Dutch  Wars  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  delivered  at  the  Union  League,  Jan- 
uary 24,  1898;  his  "Forecast  of  the  Steel 
Situation, ' '  published  January  18,  1900,  which 
events  two  years  later  converted  into  proph- 
ecy, and  a  recent  article  written  for  the  journal 
of  the  Central  High  School  (The  Mirror)  on 
the  subject  of  Fakes  and  Pretenders,  intro- 
ducing as  his  text  the  notorious  Keely  and  his 
"motor,"  with  many  others  like  them,  must 
be  passed  over  with  simple  mention.  Repro- 
duction of  them  even  by  extract  or  in  synopsis 
could  only  reinforce  the  impression,  already 
clear,  of  the  wide  diversity  of  his  thought,  the 
vast  scope  of  his  observation,  the  keen  thor- 
oughness of  his  research,  and  the  wonderful 
assimilative  capacity  of  his  mind. 


269 


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